Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak attend special prayers for Umno’s 72nd anniversary in Kuala Lumpur May 11, 2018. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Acting Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that his party president will be stepping down from his post.

Najib is chairing an Umno supreme council meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre here and will announce his decision after that, Channel News Asia reported on Twitter.

“No, he won’t be staying,” Zahid was quoted saying when asked if Najib will “stay on”.

Najib faced immediate calls from other Umno members to resign after he led the party founded by his grandfather Datuk Onn Jaafar to its worst performance ever in the 14th general election.

The Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) lost its traditional two-thirds control of Parliament in Election 2008, a year before Najib replaced Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister.

But the coalition continued to lose popular support in the election after that. In the 14th general election, it won only 79 parliamentary seats.

Once a coalition of 13 parties, BN currently has 10 left, after three Sabah parties switched their allegiances to the Parti Warisan Sabah-Pakatan Harapan pact.