Najib Who Is In Jail For His Crimes Has Been Named As Pekan UMNO's Candidate For GE15

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The division's deputy head Zamri Ramly said Najib is among the five candidates nominated by them.

Zamri, however, refused to reveal the other four names.

"There is no plan to place Najib's son to contest the Pekan seat if Najib is not eligible to contest. Instead, whoever is chosen for the seat will return it to Najib if he gets pardoned," he told Utusan Malaysia.

The jailed former prime minister has been the Pekan member of parliament (MP) since 1976, except for a single term from 1982-1986 when he was the menteri besar (MB) of Pahang.

Based on Article 48 of the Federal Constitution, Najib is disqualified from being an election candidate as he was sentenced to more than a year in prison and fined more than RM2,000.

The only way for Najib to contest an election is to get a royal pardon before nomination day.

While he has filed for a review to overturn his SRC corruption conviction and has also sought a royal pardon, he may not be able to get a result in the time to qualify as a candidate for GE15.

Even though the Election Commission has not made an announcement, polling is likely to be held in early November, according to political analyst Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara.

There is, however, a possibility that if Najib gets a Royal pardon even an hour prior to the nomination, his application as a candidate will be accepted, said lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla.