KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 ― Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan must win the Rantau by-election in order to consolidate his position within Umno to avoid a leadership tussle, research firm Ilham Centre said today.
It said Mohamad who is also known as “Tok Mat,” needed to secure victory for the third-term as it involved him being the deputy president who was currently acting as Umno president.
“Thus the victory will be a morale boost to return support and confidence to the party after it suffered a crisis in confidence following its defeat in the general election held on May 9 last year.
“This will also return the confidence of its members towards the leadership who was marred with integrity issues,” it said in a statement here.
Ilham Centre said should Mohamad fail to secure a victory, Umno and Barisan Nasional will be subsequently exposed to leadership instability.
“If Tok Mat who is leading Umno and BN is rejected by the voters in his own constituency, elements of no-confidence will emerge and Umno will once again finds itself in a leadership crisis,” it said.
On April 13, the Rantau by-election will witness Dr S. Streram competing against three other candidates, namely, BN’s candidate Mohamad and two Independents, R. Malarvizhi and Mohd Nor Yassin.
The by-election was called after the Federal Court dismissed an appeal filed by Mohamad to set aside an Election Court decision to declare his victory in the 14th general election (GE14) null and void.
Rantau has 20,926 registered voters comprising 11,283 Malays, 5,336 Indians and 3,849 Chinese.
