KUALA LUMPUR: MCA today announced that it is also postponing party polls scheduled for next year, which makes it the second party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) after Umno to do so.

MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek said that a steering committee had been formed chaired by MCA secretary-general Kong Cho Ha to decide on the new dates for polls.

He told this to reporters after chairing a meeting of MCA’s central working committee, the party’s all powerful body, at Wisma MCA here.

On Dec 1, Umno announced that its party polls scheduled for next year would be postponed by 18 months to avoid a conflict of dates should the next general election, which must be held in 2013, be called earlier.

On other matters, Chua said the CC meeting today also agreed that membership in MCA Youth be opened to Wanita MCA members below 45 years.

He also said that the party had succeeded in recruiting 17,378 new members so far this year.

He said this put to rest claims that the party was no longer popular with the people any more.

“This achievement (number of new recruits) is something to be proud of because in 2008, we only managed to attract 700 new members,” he said. Bernama