KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Umno will meet with other Opposition parties and also independent MPs to decide who should be Opposition Leader before Parliament convenes later this month.

"We will meet our allies in other Opposition parties and if needed independent MPs who will want to join us,” Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a news conference here.

He also said he would be discussing the issue of the Sungai Kandis by-election with parties like PAS before deciding on the candidate.

Zahid also announced that Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor and Datuk Ab Rauf Jusoh’s tenures as Umno secretary-general and working secretary have ended, and that their replacements will be appointed soon.

The Umno president also said a taskforce will be formed to look into all the pledges made by himself as well as presidential candidates Khairy Jamaluddin and Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah during the party election, and how to implement them.

He also announced that a research unit will be headed by Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to study the legal "issues” affecting some Umno leaders.

"She will work with a few law firms via her own law firm on legal issues affecting Umno leaders, and input will be given based on her research,” Zahid said.