However, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he could not reveal more than that, fuelling more speculation as to when the next polls will be held.

“Many times,” he said when asked by a reporter whether Umno’s top five leaders had discussed the matter.

“We cannot reveal that to you… That is an internal discussion,” he said with a grin when asked for more details.

He was responding to a question from the media after the Barisan Nasional Convention here today on whether Umno’s top five leaders – Zahid, deputy president Mohamad Hasan and the three vice-presidents – had discussed the next general election.

The next general election has to be held by September next year, but Umno has been pushing for it to be called earlier after convincing wins at recent state elections.

At the party general assembly in March, delegates decided to leave the discussion on the dissolution of Parliament to the party’s top five leaders.

In a brief press conference after the convention at the World Trade Centre, Zahid also indicated that Friends of BN – a loose group of six parties allied with the coalition – would play a role in GE15.

“That is something that is almost certain,” he said when asked whether BN would field candidates from these six parties.

“We are brothers. They have helped us a lot at general and state elections… We will discuss this with them, all the party presidents and Umno’s top five.”