Guan Eng’s successor to be elected before June 30

PETALING JAYA: The DAP national convention – which will see Lim Guan Eng stepping down as party secretary-general after nearly 17 years – will be held before June 30, after all state conventions have been conducted.

In a statement, national organising secretary Loke Siew Fook said state conventions would be scheduled between March 14 and June 5 in compliance with the government’s ruling to allow annual general meetings of registered organisations to be held in areas under conditional movement control order (CMCO).

The state conventions will kick-off with the highly anticipated battle in Perak this weekend between the Thomas Su Keong Siong-M Kula Segaran faction vs the Ngeh Koo Ham-Nga Kor Ming factions.

This will be followed by conventions in Kedah (March 19), Penang (March 21), Terengganu (March 26), Pahang (March 28), Kelantan (April 9), Negeri Sembilan (April 11), Melaka (April 18), Kuala Lumpur (April 25), Sarawak (May 1), Johor (May 2), Labuan (May 22), Sabah (May 23), Perlis (May 30) and Selangor (June 5).

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Lim assumed office as secretary-general in September 2004, and this is his third and final term. During this stint, he served as both Penang chief minister and finance minister under Pakatan Harapan.

Loke is seen by many as the favourite to take over from Lim as secretary-general, having served as DAP parliamentary leader since 2018.

Loke said all state committees had been told to observe standard operating procedures set out by the National Security Council, and that “all state committees have been directed to prepare big conference venues which can meet the 50% capacity ruling based on the size of the meeting places.”

He said that the nomination process for state committees had already begun, and that a list of eligible candidates will be sent to representatives in line with the party constitution.