KUALA LUMPUR: 10th July 2008
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Thursday that he will hand over the reigns of the government's leadership to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in mid 2010.
He said he would also hand over his chairmanship of Barisan Nasional to the Deputy Prime Minister and confirmed that he would not lead the coalition and Umno in the next general election.
However, Abdullah said he would defend his party president's post in the coming party elections in December and that he wanted Najib to remain his number two.
"I took the opportunity to inform the supreme council that I have reached an agreement with Datuk Seri Najib that I will not be leading the BN in the 13th general election.
"This means that we have to set in motion the process of transferring the power. The process would begin with this announcement that I plan to hand over the (Umno) president's post to Datuk Seri Najib by middle of 2010," he said after a special Umno briefing attended by divisional leaders and leaders of the party's Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre.
