Najib Steers BN Towards Winnable Candidates

With GE 13 fast approaching, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s approach of choosing only winnable candidates is being accepted as the most pragmatic.

When a political party plans for an election, the selection of its candidates is naturally an important process. The Prime Minister has therefore made the selection of winnable candidates a key element of re-energising the ruling coalition.

He has made it clear too to the thirteen BN component parties that they must trust his judgement in picking candidates who will ensure victory.

BN has to field candidates who are acceptable to voters. These could be incumbents, fresh faces, or even former winners.

As BN chairman, Najib is driving home the message that the ruling coalition can no longer nominate candidates the way it did previously.

Within BN, all parties agree that the ultimate aim is to win comfortably at the next general election and restore their two-thirds majority in Parliament. Equally important is that the margin of victory should translate into a strong mandate for delivering on election promises.

There may well be some discontent among incumbents because of the fresh faces Najib is expected to include in the candidate list, but most BN leaders accept that choosing winnable candidates is the most forward-looking approach.

Najib may well even reject candidates proposed by component parties, like he did for the April 2010 Hulu Selangor by-election. Using his prerogative as BN chairman, Najib chose to field P. Kamalanathan over the MIC’s nomination of its then deputy president and now president, Datuk G. Palanivel. This plan worked as Kamalanathan won back the seat for BN, which it had lost to PKR in 2008.

The BN component parties should realise that ground realities no longer make it feasible to stick to the old seat distribution arrangement. They will either have to swap seats or give them up for the common good.

The hunt for candidates has now moved closer to its final stage, with component parties being asked to submit names of prospective candidates.

The list of candidates submitted by Umno’s 161 divisions to party headquarters, as required under its constitution, is already being scrutinised.

Other component parties are expected to send their lists to BN headquarters by the end of the month.

It is hard for BN component parties to forego their traditional veto on their candidates. They have always been given a free hand in selecting candidates to contest seats allocated to them since the 1950s.

But Najib has sought to change this cosy arrangement. He said the people are the ultimate arbiter and he would listen to the voters when choosing candidates.

“It is only right as a leader. I should listen to the people. So, therefore, I will make a decision that his or her time is up and should not stand as a candidate anymore,” he said in a recent radio interview.

He also said there would be no room for favouritism, even if this meant leaving out his own friends if they failed to perform. After all, he said, the people came first.

Najib said, at the end of the day, he was responsible for fulfilling the people’s interests. He has already focussed on having senior incumbents step down in favour of candidates who have a better chance of winning.

Democracy is being further strengthened in Malaysia, with the Prime Minister putting the voters first and choosing candidates that best represent their interests. His rigorous and stringent selection process will benefit BN on polling day.