A mix of young and experienced candidates.
Umno has submitted its list of potential candidates for the 14th General Election (GE14) to party president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, said party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.
He said Najib and party vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also carrying out the duties of deputy party president were in the midst of meeting all Umno division chiefs to finalise the list of candidates.
“This is to ensure that the candidates are favoured by the people, not merely the choice of a particular party or individual,” said Tengku Adnan.
Tengku Adnan said the list also comprised a balanced mix of young and experienced candidates.
On the desire of some old faces who lost in the last general election to contest again in the GE14, Tengku Adnan said the opportunity was still open but they had to submit the reasons for their defeat as well as the strategy to win in the coming election.
“They can promote themselves but must be prepared to accept the fact if they are not chosen,” he said, adding that Umno had its own mechanism in determining candidates who would also be screened by certain agencies such as police, the Insolvency Department and the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission.
Commenting on the move by Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties namely, MCA and MIC which had announced their candidates for the GE14, Tengku Adnan said it might be because their number of candidates and seats were less than Umno.
“They can announce it but we (Umno) have to abide to the president’s call that it is not to be done until the official announcement of the candidate is made,” said Tengku Adnan, who is also BN secretary-general.