The official result of the UMNO election for the post of three vice-presidents (VP) sees Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi emerged as the most preferred candidate with 188 votes, followed by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal with 177.

Announcing the result here today, UMNO Election Committee chairman Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the third slot of UMNO VP seats was officially occupied by Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein as he garnered 101 votes.

The official result also sees Ahmad Zahid and Mohd Shafie received three additional votes each, while Hishammuddin had an additional one vote, compared to the earlier result announced by Tajol Rosli at 1.40am today.

The votes for another candidate for the post, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir, also increased to 93 from 91 previously.

The votes for two other candidates, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, remained unchanged at seven.

In terms of popular votes under the electoral college system adopted by UMNO in this year's election, Ahmad Zahid garnered 94,562 votes, Mohd Shafie (82,252), Hishammuddin (56,604), Mukhriz (57,189), Mohd Ali (15,294) and Mohd Isa (12,783).

A total of 146,500 delegates from 191 UMNO divisions cast their votes under the electoral college system to pick the three vice-presidents.

Each candidate among the top three in terms of the number of votes garnered, received one vote from a division.

This is the first time the system was adopted following the amendment of the party's constitution in 2009 which was aimed to give more power to UMNO members at the grass root to select their leaders.

Prior to this, only 2,500 delegates were given the power to vote.

The system was also adopted with the aim to increase transparency and combat money politics in the party.