KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has expressed his utmost gratefulness for Umno delegates over their decision to allow him to continue reigning on as the party president for another term.
"Thank you for putting your trust on me and Tok Mat (deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan). ‘Insyallah’, the both of us will continue to steer the party even if we must brave rough seas and typhoons.
"If we can’t fly, we’ll float. If we can’t walk, we’ll crawl. What’s important is that we must move forward,” said Zahid in his winding-up speech during the conclusion of the 2022 General Assembly today.
Zahid and Mohamad have managed to cement their grip on Umno after the supplementary motion proposing for the top-two party posts to not be opened for contest in the coming party polls was passed via voice vote today.
The duo won their respective seats in the 2018 party election which was done against the backdrop of Umno's maiden defeat at the 2018 national poll.
The supplementary motion however, was controversial as it was submitted at the eleventh-hour -- by party Negeri Sembilan delegate from the Rembau divison -- which contradicted the party's constitution and the assembly orders which stated that such motions must be filed in no less than 14 days.
Had there been a presidential poll, it would be the fifth one so as the party -- since its inception in 1946 -- only had such poll in 1951, 1978, 1987 and 2018.
Also, according to Article 9 (3) of the party's constitution, there must be an election for the party's top posts -- inlcuding the president and deputy president -- every three years.