The former Umno Youth chief suggested that the party would remain oblivious to the message from voters should many of its candidates lose at the polls, Berita Harian reported.

“Zahid will not resign. Umno will remain as always. Umno will pretend as if nothing has happened,” he was quoted as saying.

“My prediction is the same as in the 15th general election (GE15). Even if Umno suffers a (heavy) defeat, he (Zahid) will pretend as if nothing has happened,” Khairy told reporters after casting his ballot at SMA Hj Mohd Yatim in Kota, Negeri Sembilan.

There were numerous calls from within Umno for Zahid to resign following the party’s poor showing in GE15, where it suffered its worst electoral defeat in history after winning only 26 out of the 120 parliamentary constituencies it contested.

In January, Umno sacked Khairy and former Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar for breaching party discipline during GE15. A few other Umno leaders, including Hishammuddin Hussein, were suspended.

Commenting on the low voter turnout at the polls today, Khairy said it could be due to the weather forecast and the lack of interest in this state elections.

The former three-term Rembau MP said the public were fed-up of politics as there had been too many elections recently.

“But as I mentioned earlier, these state elections are important. Although it won’t have an impact on the federal government, it will determine who is to govern the state,” Khairy added.

“It’s actually the state government that will be addressing the daily issues of the people. The public usually have little to do with the federal government, but the state government is a whole different matter,” he said.

As of 2pm today, the Election Commission reported that Terengganu and Kedah had the highest voter turnout at 56%, followed by Penang (53%), Selangor (51%), Negeri Sembilan (49%), and Kelantan (45%).