Published November 3, 2008

Najib comfortably wins top post in Umno

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(KUALA LUMPUR) Malaysia's deputy premier Najib Razak took the top post in the main ruling party yesterday, virtually assuring his position as the country's next prime minister.

Mr Najib won his 134th nomination for the presidency of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the biggest party in the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years, state-run Bernama news agency reported.

This is enough to assure him victory in the party's national congress and elections to be held on March 24-28, 2009.

Under Umno rules, a member must garner 30 per cent of total nominations to be eligible to run for the party presidency.

Every Malaysian prime minister since its independence from Britain in 1957 has been the Umno president, which leads a 13-party multi-ethnic coalition, the Barisan Nasional.

Mr Najib's only challenger, former finance minister Razaleigh Hamzah, managed only one nomination, Bernama said.

The son of a prime minister and nephew of another, Mr Najib will succeed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who led the government to its worst election result and will become the shortest-lived Malaysian leader when he steps down next year. Mr Abdullah's promises of reform saw him win a landslide election victory in 2004, only for the government to fall to its worst result in a poll in March this year.

Since then Malaysia's economy, which had recovered strongly from the Asian crisis of a decade ago, has faltered. -- Reuters