VOTING FOR NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS IN UMNO WANITA, YOUTH AND PUTERI

Umno polls: Division delegates meet

Khairy casts his vote at his Rembau Umno division meeting.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Umno delegate meeting and elections for the Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings begin simultaneously in 191 divisions Saturday morning.

The meeting will be adjourned to allow voting to choose the three wing leaders at divisional and national levels.

Each delegate will be given two sets of ballot papers to elect their leaders at the divisional and national levels.

This is the first time that grassroots members are given a bigger voice in the Umno polls following an amendment to the party's constitution in 2009 which sought to make the election more transparent and democratic, and to eliminate money politics.

About 230,000 delegates will be choosing their wing leaders compared to 2,500 previously.

The voting process is expected to end at about 1pm, and the delegates will resume the meeting whilst votes are counted.

The elections this time sees 110,765 Wanita delegates, about 70,000 Youth delegates and about 50,000 Puteri delegates choosing their leaders for the 2013-2016 term.

For the Young wing, 94 candidates are contesting at the national level while 7,125 at the divisional level.

Wanita has 51 candidates vying for posts at the national level and 6,758 at the divisional level while Puteri has 35 candidates at national level and 4,955 at the divisional level.

The results of the elections in the wings are expected to be known as early as 8pm Saturday. - Bernama

pics by nst