Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said this is because Shahelmey will automatically lose his Umno membership by doing so.
“Shahelmey is currently serving a six-year suspension from Umno and is ineligible to run as their candidate. To defend his Tanjung Keramat state seat, he may need to run under a different party.
“But the Umno constitution is clear. If he contests under another banner, he will cease to be a member of the party,” Azmi told FMT.
Clause 20.11.1 of Umno’s constitution states that party members who are MPs or state assemblymen will automatically lose their membership if they turn independent or join a coalition which Umno is not aligned to. Clause 20.11.2 provides that they will automatically lose their membership if they contest any election either under the banner of another party or as independents.
An Umno leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the position under the party’s constitution.
“If Shahelmey stands under a different banner, he will automatically lose his Umno membership,” he said, adding that the loss of his party membership will in turn trigger Article 49(1)(a)(ii) of the Federal Constitution.
Article 49(1)(a)(ii) provides that an MP will lose his seat in the Dewan Rakyat if “having been elected to the house as a member of a political party, he ceases to be a member of the political party”.
Shahelmey currently holds the Putatan parliamentary seat and Tanjung Keramat state assembly, both won on a Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket.
He was suspended by Umno for six years in January 2024 after defying Sabah BN’s attempt to overthrow Hajiji Noor’s administration and lending his support for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-led government a year earlier.
He was made deputy chief minister in a subsequent cabinet reshuffle.
On March 26, Sabah BN chairman Bung Moktar Radin accused Shahelmey of betraying the party and said he should not expect to be fielded as a BN candidate at the upcoming state election.
Speculation about a party switch was fuelled two days later after Shahelmey posted photographs of himself and Umno castaway Khairy Jamaluddin on social media. Also present was Arsad Bistari, another Sabah BN assemblyman who broke ranks to support Hajiji’s government.
Shahelmey subsequently played down his meeting with Khairy as no more than a friendly encounter. He also said only the BN central leadership can decide on candidacies and that he would only announce his own plans “at the right time”.