KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will not defend his post as Umno president and will step down as Prime Minister in March next year.

Abdullah announced that he would not be defending the president's post at the party's general assembly next March after chairing the BN supreme council meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre here Wednesday (8 Oct).

Under the BN system, the Umno president is traditionally also the prime minister and BN chairman.

This means that the transition of power to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, which was previously fixed for June 2010, will take place more than a year earlier.

The Umno supreme council, at a special meeting recently, decided to postpone the party's general assembly, originally scheduled for December, to March next year to speed up the power transition process. (Bernama)