Abdullah to contest Umno top post, Najib to go for No. 2

The Star, 11 July 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will step down as Prime Minister in June 2010 and hand over power to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Abdullah, who is Umno president, said he would seek nomination to contest the party’s top post in the December party elections and Najib, who is his deputy, would go for the number two party post.

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Whao............Such a long time to go. Many Malaysian can’t wait that long. But more importantly is that it effectively shuts Muhyiddin Yassin out of the equation. Sour grape he becomes that he said from Tokyo that “some people (referring to him) consider the succession date in 2010 as too long”.

Meanwhile Ku Li said that the UMNO presidency was an elected post and should not be handed over to anybody but to a person chosen by the delegates. He said It was improper for Abdullah to hand over any post as it is an elected post.

Most probable scenario:

• 
  UMNO members by and large, will forgive the flip-flog Pak Lah’s poor performance during the GE12; and concentrate on the handover.
  
• Jostling and politicking amongst UMNO members to be close to Najib intensifies.
• Muhyiddin may team up with Ku Li to challenge Pak Lah and Najib in the coming party polls.
• If Najib survives the allegations of his involvement in the Altantuya murder and Anwar conspiracy, he may not survive that long – June 2010 to take over.
• Dr Mahathir predicted that more accusations would be thrown at Najib to put him down until he would be deemed unfit to serve as Deputy Prime Minister. Read more Here