KLANG - Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) President Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu has admitted that he is not a popularly chosen candidate to lead the party.
He said this was evident in the two previous election sessions where he did not receive the highest votes.
"I know I have many weaknesses. After Amanah was launched on Sept 16, 2015, the party held its first election (and at that time) I was not the popularly chosen candidate. Many others were more popular (but) the Amanah Syura Council saw my weaknesses and strengths at the same time. So they asked me to continue leading.
"Once again this year, I did not become the number one choice, and after the meeting (consensus to select the top five positions), they also confronted me, but in the end, they made the decision as announced earlier," he said.
He made these remarks while delivering the closing speech at the Amanah National Convention 2023 at a hotel here today.
Earlier, the results of the election for the 27 National Leadership Committee positions of Amanah saw Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad ranked highest with 900 votes.
The second-highest number of votes went to former Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad with 899 votes. Current Shah Alam MP Azli Yusof obtained 755 votes, while Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu secured the eighth position with 613 votes.
In the previous polls, Mohamad, popurlarly referred to as Mat Sabu, ranked seventh spot.
Earlier, 1,008 representatives voted online or through e-voting to choose the speaker, deputy speaker, and the 27 leadership committee positions of Amanah for the 2023-2026 session.
Meanwhile, the National Leadership Committee, which met for almost three hours to determine the positions of the top five leaders of the party, decided to retain Mohamad as the President. Additionally, Datuk Seri Dr Muhjahid Yusoff was appointed as the deputy, and the three vice president positions were filled by Dr Dzulkefly, Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud and Adly Zahari