Zahid, who is also Umno president, said the decision was reached at the party’s Supreme Council meeting earlier today.

He added that they decided to make way for DAP, which has won the seat in three elections, despite Malay voters now making up more than 50% of the electorate there.

“Out of respect for the unity government, I believe that our colleagues in Umno, as well as within BN, should acknowledge that the seat belongs to our partner in the unity government,” he said during Umno’s breaking fast event here.

He said Umno will back any candidate nominated by Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim.

The seat fell vacant with the death yesterday of Lee Kee Hiong, 58, the three-term DAP assemblyman. At last year’s Selangor state elections, she had been re-elected with a 4,119-vote majority against Teoh Kien Hong of Gerakan.

She first won the seat in 2013 after defeating MCA’s Ooi Hui Wen with a 1,702-vote majority, and defended it in 2018 with a 7,134-vote majority over MCA’s Wong Koon Mun.