Politics

BN Padang Serai candidate calls for Zahid to step down

PADANG SERAI: Barisan Nasional's (BN) Padang Serai parliamentary seat candidate Datuk C. Sivaraj has joined the chorus of leaders calling for Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Zahid Hamidi to step down.

He said BN's hefty defeat in the 15th General Election (GE15) was a clear sign that Zahid, who is also BN chairman, should make way for others to lead the party.

"Although I have a good relationship with Zahid in politics, the general election results have sent a coherent message that he has to make way for other leaders to take over the party machinery. Do what is best for the sake of the party, Datuk Seri," Sivaraj said in a statement today.

The Padang Serai parliamentary election has been postponed from yesterday to Dec 7 following the death of Pakatan Harapan candidate M. Karupaiya.

Karupaiya died from a heart attack during treatment at the Kulim Hospital last Wednesday. He had collapsed after attending Pakatan Harapan rally on Nov 13.

Umno and Barisan Nasional struggled in GE15 yesterday and only secured 30 parliamentary seats out of the 178 contested by the coalition.

Its political rivals, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional, have so far won 82 and 73 seats, respectively.

Following the disastrous results, several Umno leaders convened a meeting at the party headquarters today to discuss on the party's future and direction.

Yesterday, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said the first agenda of today, would be the party's political bureau meeting involving all Umno state liaison committee chairmen, which would be followed by the supreme council meeting.

BN's supreme council is expected to have a meeting at 8pm today.

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