JOHOR BARU, Dec 9 — Johor Umno's 26 divisions are expected to deliberate on the party’s future in the Muafakat Nasional‘s (MN) pact with PAS and an early general election during their annual general meetings from December 18.

Johor Umno committee working secretary Pandak Ahmad said the two topics will likely be the main items on the agenda.

"Following the result of the recent Melaka state election, where Barisan Nasional (BN) won in a landslide victory over rivals Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN), Umno believes that the momentum is there for an early general election.

"At the same time, Umno members have also questioned PAS’ participation and role in MN over its partnership with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in PN,” said Pandak in a media conference held at the Johor Umno liaison committee office here today.

Earlier, he was asked on the state party’s preparations for the annual general meetings that are expected to see several hot issues on the agenda.

From November 11 and 12, Johor Umno had managed to see a total of 2,731 branch meetings conducted in accordance with the standard operating procedures (SOP).

Pandak said Johor Umno received positive participation from members during the branch-level meetings that were held both physically and virtually in accordance with the SOP.

Following that, he said the party’s state leadership is prepared for the divisional meetings where it will look through all motions coming from its 26 divisions state-wide.

"All meetings must also fulfill the required 25 per cent quorum.

"After that, we will process the motions before bringing it to the party’s general assembly that will be held between January 13 and 15 next year,” he said.

Pandak, who is also the Iskandar Puteri Umno division deputy chief, said all of the party’s divisions in Johor will have their annual general meetings simultaneously on December 18, except for the Sembrong division that will meet on December 14.

He said that this was because Sembrong division chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the senior defence minister, would be away on official duties during December 18.

After winning a super majority in the Melaka state polls last month, Umno and its allies in BN have been considering bringing forward a general election that’s due only in 2023 to capitalise on its current momentum.

On November 20, the Malay nationalist party won 18 of the 28 seats in the Melaka state polls, while MCA won two and MIC one for the BN coalition.

At the same time, Umno’s leadership also questioned the MN charter it has with Islamist party PAS following its decision to back Bersatu and the PN coalition during the Melaka polls.

The MN charter was signed between Umno and PAS in September 2019, following the defeat of BN at the 14th General Elections (GE14) the year before. MN was initially formed to contest against Bersatu, who were the other predominantly Malay party that was formerly with the PH government, before the Sheraton Move which resulted in them defecting from PH to form and lead the PN coalition.