Mohd Puad falls short in defence of Batu Pahat Umno division chief post
JOHOR BARU - Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi fell short in his defence of the Batu Pahat Umno division chief's post, losing in a three-corner clash.
The result was announced on Sunday and former Umno division deputy chief Zaidi Japar won with 401 votes while the Rengit Assemblyman Puad garnered only 302 votes.
The other candidate Johari Abd Razak obtained six votes.
The election held at Batu Pahat Jubli Intan Hall on Saturday had 709 representatives involved.
Puad was the Batu Pahat Umno division chief since 2004.
Johor Umno Secretary Datuk Samsolbari Jamali said 25 divisions had undergone their election process and announced their new leadership line up.
However, the Johor Baru Umno division elections were suspended following excess votes compared to representatives.
He explained the new Johor Bahru Umno division elections dates will be announced by the Umno Central Election Committee.
“11 Umno divisions saw new chiefs and they were Batu Pahat (Zaidi Japar), Pontian (Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan), Tanjung Piai (Md Israk Abdullah), Tebrau (Datuk Abdul Halim Sulaiman), Sembrong (Datuk Abdul Ghani Abdul Rashid) and Simpang Renggam (Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi).
“Five other new faces who won the Umno division chief posts were Sri Gading (Datuk Mohd Lassim Burhan), Muar (Datuk Ashari Md Sarip), Bakri (Azman Ismail), Ledang (Datuk Rahim Talib) and Sekijang (Datuk Baharum Mohamed).
Commenting on the loss of big names including Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad in Pontian, Samsolbari who was the Johor State Assembly deputy speaker said it was customary in competitions, there will be winners and losers.
