KJ, SHAHRIZAT AND ROSNAH EMERGED WINNER

Khairy Jamaluddin hoisted by the new UMNO Youth Exco members after he was announced as the new chief of the wing at Dewan Tun Hussein Onn, PWTC, Wednesday night
KUALA LUMPUR: It was an upset result for the Umno Youth Chief race when Khairy Jamaluddin, who was trailing behind in the third spot from the starting line, emerged as winner at the finishing line.
He secured 304 votes defeating Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo (254 votes) and Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir (232 votes) as 793 delegates made their choice.
Mukhriz and Dr Mohamad Khir were the favourites right from the nomination day when they kept changing the number one and two spot between them during the six months campaigning until 24 hours ago.
Most newspapers, political analysts and man in the street have put their bet on either Dr Mohamad Khir or Mukhriz who obtained 62 nominations and 74 nominations respectively while Khairy had 53 nominations.
"Some said I will be finished when my father in law (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) is no longer around," was some of the Khairy's quotes during his maiden speech at the Putra World Trade Centre, here.
"How could the underdog win? Did money decide on the outcome," shouted an angry supporter, probably from the losing candidate teams.
Political analyst Assoc Prof Dr Mohamed Mustaffa Ishak, who earlier predicted that Khairy might be the chosen one, believed that the latter's position as deputy chief had allowed him to have unlimited access to the Youth grassroots compared to the other two candidates.
"Therefore, he can mobilise and energise all his contacts and machinery for his benefit," he said.
However, Dr Mohamed Mustaffa cautioned Khairy that the public perception was that he was not welcomed as the Youth leader at the moment.
Khairy needs to improve the negative public perception on him by establishing himself as a calibre leader and come out of the Abdullah's shadow.
As for the new Wanita chief, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil, political analyst Assoc Prof Dr Mohamad Agus Yusoff believed the result showed that the movement wanted changes when they gave Shahrizat the landslide victory.
Shahrizat polled 507 votes compared with incumbent Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz's 280 votes.
Dr Mohamed Mustaffa believed that Rafidah's long tenure as Wanita head and her transition plan could have contributed to her defeat.
Rafidah had led the movement for 24 years and she had overstayed her welcome, he said. Furthermore, her original transition plan to hand over the leadership to Shahrizat three months after this assembly had raised a lot of questions including her sincerity among the delegates.
As Shahrizat was handpicked and groomed by Rafidah, the former had to show her ability to lead and come out of the Rafidah's shadow, said Dr Mohamed Mustaffa.
In the election for the Puteri Umno chief, Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin emerged winner after securing 245 votes, defeating five other candidates.

She was the movement's former vice chief .
Courtesy: BERNAMA