Two candidates cry foul over election results, send protest letter

Two candidates who contested the UMNO Youth vice-chief and Wanita UMNO division chief posts have sent letters to protest the results announced by the UMNO Election Committee (UEC) Sunday.

The letters were sent by representatives of Khairul Azwan Harun and Datuk Hamidah Osman, the candidates for UMNO Youth vice-chief and Gopeng Wanita UMNO division chief.

Mohamad Annuar Ariffin, the proposer for Khairul Azwan sent the protest letter to the UEC chairman Tan Sri Tajol Rosli Ghazali at about 5pm Monday.

He said the announcement that Khairul Azwan received 73 votes, the same as another candidate, Jamawi Jaafar is irrelevant as Khairul Azwan had received more votes before the announcement was made.

"Based on the war room report, Khairul had received more than 73 votes. We have proof as the candidate representatives for the divisions which he won can vouch for it."

Mohammad Annuar urged the UEC to examine the letter.

"We disagree with the decision to base the result on popular vote. Its not fair to Khairul because we already have the majority," he added.

Tajol Rosli yesterday said the election result for the post of UMNO Youth vice-chief will be announced after Aidiladha.

The result will be based on popular vote as Khairul Azwan and Jamawi Jaafar were tied on 73 votes.

Meanwhile, Hamidah said there were more ballots than the total delegates who voted for the Gopeng Wanita UMNO chief's post three days ago.

"The number of delegates present were 315 people but there were a total of 328 ballots, an additional 13."

She claimed that during the counting process, the ballot box was allowed to be kept for five hours without the presence of the candidate's representatives.