KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — The Umno divisions that nominated him as the party’s candidate for prime minister in the 15th general elections (GE15) did so willingly, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob reportedly said yesterday.
The caretaker prime minister told reporters at the World Trade Centre yesterday that Umno’s supreme council members had reached the decision on their own accord, according to a report by the New Straits Times.
"This is a decision made by the divisions because any motion moved by a division will have to come from the division itself, which means they are free to present any motion,” he was quoted as saying, adding that he was thankful to all of them.
"I was told that 152 divisions moved the motion to support me as the prime ministerial candidate and this was done based on the Umno supreme council’s decision.
"The supreme council had made a decision to name me as the [candidate for] prime minister and this was also announced by the Umno president (Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi),” he was quoted as saying.
Because of this, he reportedly added the matter of the divisions being pressured to present the motion was not an issue.
On Sunday, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid was reported by national news agency Bernama as saying that the Umno supreme council did not issue any instruction to the party divisions to move a motion of support on the candidacy of Ismail Sabri.
That same day, Ahmad Zahid reportedly denied the Opposition’s claim that he would be appointed as prime minister if Barisan Nasional were to recapture Putrajaya, saying that Umno will maintain Ismail Sabri as its candidate for prime minister.
