Nazri Aziz urges Zahid to step down, wants Mat Hasan to take over

KUALA LUMPUR: Day by day, more and more UMNO leaders are calling for their president, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to resign for the party's survival in facing the 15th General Election (GE15).

In a latest development, Padang Rengas Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz made the call on the grounds that Zahid no longer had the credibility to lead UMNO and Barisan Nasional (BN).

The Padang Rengas UMNO division chief stressed that Zahid needed to give way to others to lead the party because his image had been tarnished by the charges in court.

"Zahid needs to step down immediately.

"The question of who will replace him is not a problem because we just follow the party hierarchy.

"(Datuk Seri) Mohamad Hasan as the number two person can take over the leadership.

“If there are warlords who disagree, that is their problem.

“For me, the right thing to do is to follow the hierarchy because that is decided by the grassroots during party elections.

"I am confident that Mohamad Hasan can lead UMNO and I hope he can make changes in the party," he told Astro AWANI.

Commenting further, Nazri explained that what happened during the MIC Annual General Assembly (AGM) last week was a clear proof that Zahid's leadership was no longer respected by the BN component parties.

“The BN component does not seem to respect him (Zahid).

"Just look at the MIC AGM last weekend, if the UMNO president and BN chairman is respected, the component party will not invite outsiders to officiate.

"This is embarrassing. It is also clear that Zahid has no credibility as UMNO president and BN chairman," he added.

On Tuesday, Simpang Renggam UMNO division chief Datuk Zakaria Dullah called for Zahid to step down to ensure the survival of UMNO to remain relevant in the country's political landscape.