KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is the new Umno president, as announced by the party's official 2018 election's Twitter account.
As at 9.40pm, Ahmad Zahid garnered 93 votes in the election held nationwide today.
His closest contender is former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin who secured 53 votes.
Veteran Umno politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah only managed 23 votes.
It was neck and neck for Ahmad Zahid and Khairy as the two were tied at one point with 41 votes each. While Khairy managed to overtake the former deputy prime minister for a while, Ahmad Zahid zoomed ahead and continued to lead.
Ahnad Zahid who was formerly the deputy prime minister, manage to secure the confidence of a majority of Umno members, who wants the party to be restored to its former glory, following its defeat in the 14th General Election (GE14).
After Pakatan Harapan ousted Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE14, Datuk Seri Najib Razak resigned as Umno president and BN chairman and Ahmad Zahid assumed both roles.
Umno's political bureau then agreed that Ahmad Zahid, 65 years old, would assume the role of acting party president.
As for Umno's election, the 2018-2021 term is considered historical as the party opened up all positions in the party to be contested including the presidency and the deputy president's post.
Around 165,000 Umno delegates cast their votes across 191 divisions today.
Last week, the 191 divisions elected Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki as the new Umno Youth chief, Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad as Wanita Chief and Datuk Zahida Zarik Khan as the new Puteri chief.