The Umno election to be held at the end of the year will adopt the 'electoral college' system which merges the election systems from the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK).
Umno Election Committee chairman Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the system was perceived to be suitable for implementation in the election of the top leadership of the party which would involve 146,000 members at the grassroots level.
"Our election method is slightly different from the past. We will merge the American system with that used in the United Kingdom.
"This time around, one division will carry one vote. For example, A and B are contesting for the president's post, if A wins, then A gets one vote," he said in his speech at the Briefing on Methodology and Implementation of Election of Divisional Committee Members at the Federal Territory level at the Putra World Trade Centre, here Thursday.
Tajol, who was a former Perak menteri besar, said based on the system, if two candidates obtained an identical number of votes, the result would then depend on the votes of each of the 191 divisions nationwide.
He said the adoption of the new method reflected a more democratic and inclusive election process when it involved more members in the election for the top party leadership.
If previously only 13 delegates from each division were involved in the election of the Supreme Council members, this time around, members at the divisional level could also vote for their candidate, he said.
"This is the new method and procedures that will be implemented during the election at the end of the year after the amendments to the party constitution were passed in 2009.
"This also proves Umno's openness and willingness to make changes so that it remains relevant and strong based on the increasingly challenging political landscape," he said.
Meanwhile, Umno executive secretary Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh said the election committee would table the method of election to the party management before taking it to the Umno Supreme Executive Council after the conclusion of the briefings in all the states.
The date for election at the branch level had been decided from July 15 till Aug 31 while the date for election at the divisional and top party leadership levels had yet to be decided.
source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/po/newspolitics.php?id=959416
