He said in the spirit of democracy, party polls should be held in May as the tenure for all office-bearers will expire by then.
“By holding elections, it will show that we have kept our word. Let us be a party that adheres to a system we have created ourselves.
“While there is a provision to postpone the polls, the spirit in the party constitution to hold polls every three years should ideally be followed, without any delay.
“If DAP and other parties can do this without delay, then Umno has no reason not to do so, as a mature party that has existed for so long,” he said on the sidelines of an event at UiTM Permatang Pauh here.
Reezal had earlier officiated the Penang-state level Teachers’ Day celebration hosted by the state Education Department where he gave awards to outstanding teachers.
Asked about the recording of a telephone call purportedly featuring the voices of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Reezal said he was very “disturbed” by it.
“I want to know who is behind this, the content and the veracity of the details in the audio clip. It came as a relief when our Umno president denied the recording.
“While the first line of defence is denial, we need to make this issue clear to the party members. Hence, the Supreme Council must come up with an explanation to the members,” he said.
In the unconfirmed recording, believed to have taken place soon after Umno’s annual general assembly in March, a man who sounds like Anwar quipped that this was his first time following the assembly in the past 22 years, to which the other man said: “Don’t worry, that is only tactical.”
Both men have since denied the recording and have said police reports will be lodged over the matter.
Asked to comment on calls for Zahid to resign over the alleged clip, Reezal said while it was not necessary, the Supreme Council should decide if he should step down.
He personally believed there was no need for resignation, but polls should be held so that office-bearer positions can be elected.
“Asking people to resign is easy, but this is beyond that. Let the democratic process decide,” he said.
Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin had also called for the polls to be held this year, so as to resolve “internal issues” ahead of the general election.
However, former prime minister and ex-party president Najib Razak said holding party polls before the general election would weaken the party and would see members defecting to other parties.