The fight for the Gerakan presidency will see a straight fight between Datuk Mah Siew Koong and Teng Chang Yeow.

Mah, 52, is currently party vice-president while Teng, 49, is the party's Penang Gerakan chief.

Mah also became acting secretary-general after Teng quit the post following Penang's poor showing in the 13th General Election.

The election over this top post will take place at the National Delegates Conference on Oct 27(Saturday), a day after the polls for Youth and Wanita posts.

The battle between the two follows the announcement by current acting president, Datuk Chang Ko Youn, that he would not contest the post.

Chang led the party since Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon stepped down to take responsibility over the dismal election results.

This is the first time that the president’s post will be contested since 2005. That year, president Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik was challenged by his deputy Kerk Choo Ting. However, Dr Lim successfully defended the post until he retired in April 2007.

Aside from the presidency, two candidates also offered themselves for the deputy presidency, namely Gerakan Kepong division chairman Ma Woei Chyu and Kedah state chairman Dr Cheah Soon Hai, during the nomination process which closed at noon today.

Six candidates are contesting the three Gerakan vice-president(VP) posts; while 39 are going after 18 central committee posts.

The six confirmed to run for the VPs are Asharuddin Ahmad, Gordon Leong Vui Cheung, Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff, A. Kohilan Pillay, Datuk Teo Eng Tee and Loo Yeng Peng. Kohilan is the only incumbent for the post.

A total of 2,298 national delegates are eligible to vote in this year's party elections.