SUBANG JAYA: UMNO needs to hold party elections now, urged Rembau Member of Parliament, Khairy Jamaluddin.

According to him, the dissemination of an audio recording which was alleged to resemble the voices of UMNO President, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PKR President, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, has made party members feel uncomfortable.

“Many people in the party are not comfortable with the telephone conversation allegedly involving the party (UMNO) president and Anwar. I think Datuk Seri Zahid's position is now increasingly untenable.

“MKT (Supreme Working Council) needs to meet immediately and allow party elections to be held immediately. As far as I know, his (Ahmad Zahid) position can no longer be defended.

“The best way to move forward is to hold party elections. Now!" he asserted at a press conference after the launch of the 2021 CHAMPS-NASOM Autism Awareness programme here on Friday.

Ahmad Zahid's name came to the fore recently after an audio recording of a conversation that allegedly resembled his voice with Anwar's had gone viral on social media.

Through the audio recording lasting 4 minutes 17 seconds on the Facebook account of Insider Malaysia, a voice that resembled Anwar’s was also heard praising Ahmad Zahid's speech at the UMNO General Assembly (PAU) through a phone call.

"I strongly deny the existence of the conversation as in the audio recording, and even want to emphasise that I did not have any conversation with Datuk Seri Anwar after the UMNO General Assembly 2020 (PAU2020).

“This is an evil and disgusting political ploy that only confirms the continued efforts to weaken and destroy UMNO.

"I believe more vile games like this will be done to further belittle and destroy UMNO," Ahmad Zahid said in his reaction in a media statement on Wednesday.