Effendy, who was formerly MTUC’s deputy president, won the presidency after collecting 288 votes to Japar Majid’s 107.

Matkar Siwang is the new deputy president, after garnering 265 votes, with his nearest challenger, Ismail Ali, receiving 110.

Kamarul Baharin Mansor retained his post as secretary general with 274 votes, beating Gopal Krishnam (117).

A total of 411 delegates attended the two-day triennial delegates conference, which was opened by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Saturday.

“We thank the government for announcing a RM4 million yearly grant to the congress (to implement training and awareness programmes) and the (announcement) to appoint an MTUC representative to the board of directors of government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs),” said Kamarul Baharin in a statement.

“The government has recognised MTUC’s contribution to the nation’s economic development (and) the election has shown that MTUC’s representatives have chosen the leaders they hope will ensure workers are being taken care of in Malaysia.”

This comes as a faction within MTUC led by Halim Mansor, who has claimed to be the rightful president, failed to obtain an injunction to stop the conference.

Halim, who was also president for the 2017-19 term, declared himself president following the party’s standing orders that the immediate past president shall continue as president if there was no outright winner in the 2019 election – which he tied with Japar.

On Saturday, he said had been barred from contesting the post because his nomination paper had not been sent to the correct email address.

He claimed that the election was illegal under the MTUC’s constitution, which states that it must be held between October and December of the third year of the committee’s triennial term.