Zahid says leaving it to Umno deputy to negotiate on seats for the state elections

KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that he has delegated the task of hashing out seat allocations with allies in the six state elections to his deputy Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

Speaking to reporters after Umno’s 77th-anniversary celebration, Ahmad Zahid also assured voters that each of the component parties in the current federal government will contest the elections.

“I will leave it to the wisdom of the Umno deputy president, who is also the Barisan Nasional chairman, for the seat negotiation,” he said.

Zahid added that Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) will listen to any views expressed by component parties in the coalition government regarding the distribution of the seats in Kelantan and Terengganu.

"We will listen to any point of view from them," he said when asked if Umno would consider the allocation of their seats in the two states.

In GE14, PH failed to win any seats in Kelantan and Terengganu state assemblies.

BN won eight out of 45 state assembly seats in Kelantan and 10 out of 32 seats in Terengganu.

At the party’s anniversary celebration, the Umno president led other members of the party including deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, vice-president Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, and secretary-general Datuk Seri Asyraf Wajdi in an Islamic-themed ceremony.

Also attending the event were Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, women chief Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad, supreme council members including Datuk Seri Puad Zarkashi and Datuk Lokman Noor Adam.