KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Umno will not be fielding a candidate in the Sandakan parliamentary by-election, said its deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
He said that Umno has never vied for the seat before and that it had traditionally been contested by a former Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) component, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
“We have decided that the party will not contest the seat,” he told a press conference after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting here.
It has been reported that Sabah MCA is interested in contesting the seat on the BN ticket now that LDP has left the coalition.
The Sandakan by-election was called after the sudden death of two term MP and Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Stephen Wong Tien Fatt on March 28 due to a heart attack.
Parti Bersatu Sabah today announced its intention to contest the seat and will have the support of local opposition parties. Several independents are also expected to contest.
The seat has some 40,131 registered voters of whom 49 per cent are Chinese followed by 44 per cent Muslim bumiputera and 6 per cent non Muslim bumiputera.
On a separate issue, Mohamad Hasan also announced that the Umno general assembly this year would be held from November 13 to 16.
Among the agenda is to amend its constitution to ease member registrations and to give full autonomy to the Sabah state chapter.
He also announced that Umno’s membership has reduced from 3.6 million members to about three million after some passed away and others have joined other parties.
