KUALA LUMPUR (June 30):  Bagan Datuk MP Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was elected as the new Umno president for the 2018-2021 session today.

Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Ahmad Zahid, who was previously the vice president discharging the duties of party president, won the post after receiving 78 votes, beating former Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin (53 votes) and Gua Musang MP Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (28 votes).

He said the result was not yet finalised as voting from 34 divisions had not been validated or announced.

However, he said the tally so far was enough to determine the winner.

"In the morning, we will announce the complete election results including the 25 Supreme Council posts," he said in a press conference at Menara Dato Onn, PWTC here after midnight,

Meanwhile, Rantau Negeri assemblyman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who was formerly Negeri Sembilan menteri besar, was elected as the deputy president after garnering 110 votes to beat UMNO Information chief and Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa (47 votes).

For the three vice-president posts, Tengku Adnan said two had been filled by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid after obtaining 146 and 99 votes respectively.

The third winner, he said, could not be announced tonight as counting at certain divisions had yet to be finalised.

It is believed to be a close contest between Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani and Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin for the final spot.

Tengku Adnan said result for the Bakri Division had been deferred as there were certain irregularities reported by election observers, so only those of 190 divisions would be taken into account.

Delegates from 191 Umno divisions had carried out their responsibility to choose the party's top leadership since Saturday morning.

Umno is entering a new era after former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak resigned as party president and chairman of Barisan Nasional (BN) following the coalition’s shock defeat in the 14th general election on May 9. It ended the rule of the BN as the federal government for the first time after 61 years since independence,