KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he will not pull out from his bid for the Umno’s presidency.
This was despite several quarters calling him to back off from putting in his papers for the post to give way for Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
“There is no reason for me to pull out,” he said in a Whatsapp reply to a news portal.
He was responding to the calls for him to pullout for the polls as he was said to be part of the party leadership that suffered unprecedented loss during the 14th General Election.
Other than Zahid, outgoing Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and controversial blogger Rahmat Azim Abdul Aziz will go for the party No.1 post.
Rahmat, however believes that his bid may be rejected as did not fulfil the criteria of serving in the Umno supreme council for at least a year.
It was reported that Khairy would be sending in his nomination papers to the party headquarters before the deadline at 5pm.
Zahid who is currently handling the duties of the party president after Datuk Seri Najib Razak stepped down from the post is facing a huge challenge after the party’s poor election showing in the May 9 polls.
Up to now those who have expressed their support for Tengku Razaleigh includes Former Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani and Former Menteri Besar of Johor Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin. They are both competing for the post of vice president.
In a press statement yesterday Zahid who was former Deputy Prime Minister hoped for Umno to move as a team after the defeat.
He said that the party polls need to be used to face external foes instead of making enemies of one another.
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