ABSTRACT
General Election 14 (GE14) posed a serious challenge to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s grip over elites in his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Election candidacy had been a source of feuds among UMNO factions as the number of seats in parliamentary and state constituencies was limited and only a small number of politicians could be nominated. Being a parliamentarian or state assemblyman boosted one’s access to government-generated concessions.
One avenue to curb in-fighting was to accommodate division chiefs and members of the party’s Supreme Council by appointing them as candidates, particularly if they were incumbents or “warlords” as they were likely to command grassroots support. To strengthen these elites’ electoral support, Najib, as Prime Minister, distributed development projects and various other material benefits to UMNO grassroots and voters in key constituencies.
This study reviews local level dynamics and how candidates were selected, with a focus on the politics of patronage. Four case studies are provided to indcate the different methods elites adopted to mobilize patronage resources to overcome factionalism in their divisions and muster electoral support. This study reviews UMNO’s efforts to accommodate as many elites as possible as election candidates as well as the outcome of this accomodation strategy.
