KUALA LUMPUR: Will MCA hold fresh elections to pick its national leaders in the nearest future or will the party’s top stewards wait for their term to expire in a year to hold the all-important party polls?The three factions in the party, led by president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and vice-president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, respectively, while saying that there was a need for fresh elections, disagreed on the date, or rather timing, of the polls.
Liow’s faction prefers it to be held, at the latest, by the end of this month but this is very unlikely because, currently, only 13 of the party’s elected Central Committee (CC) members, including Liow, have submitted undated conditional resignation letters, falling short of the 21 resignations needed.
The party’s constitution requires two-thirds of the 30 CC members to resign and the elections should be held within 30 days after they have submitted their quit letters.
“I do not see it. I do not think there would be fresh elections this year. I assume that they might just wait until the party elections next year,” a party insider told Bernama yesterday.
“Moreover, the special committee has met thrice, and the Christmas Day deadline for those wishing to resign has passed,” he added.
While Dr Chua recently said that he did not rule out the possibility of such fresh elections in the near future, provided more CC members resigned in the coming months, the party insider believes that it was “just a natural and sensible statement” coming from a senior politician.
“Dr Chua is just pointing out that the fresh elections are still possible even when the majority of the CC members have not resigned. Most of the CC members are independently elected. Therefore, while they are aligned to (any) one of the three warring factions, they still have a mind of their own,” he added.
The source also said that some of the elected CC members are reluctant to resign as they are not central delegates and do not hold any post of division chairman.
Under the party constitution, only those who are central delegates — either the elected members or automatic central delegates (such as division chairmen, state assemblymen, members of parliament and senators) — are allowed to contest CC posts.
“If they resign now, they can’t contest again unless they are central delegates or division chairmen. That explains why some of them are reluctant (to resign) before their term is due,” he said.
There is speculation though that some CC members might want to resign after the Chinese New Year on Feb 14 and 15, paving the way for fresh polls in March, provided ‘certain conditions and terms’ are agreed upon.
Some of these conditions are that the elections should involve all levels of the party and that everybody should agree that whoever the elected president is, he has the right to recommend anyone for any government post.
“That means, all (members of the) warring factions must agree that if they are currently holding government posts such as ministers or deputy ministers, and if they lose in the party polls, they should make way for those who win to take over,” he said.
Some CC members, when contacted, said the party should move forward with all factions putting aside their differences and working together as a team until the scheduled party elections next year.
“If you want to have fresh elections, hold it next year when the current term expires. There is no hurry,” said a CC member who declined to be named. — Bernama