KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MALAYSIA'S biggest government party is to hold its first contested election for the post of deputy leader in more than 20 years after three candidates won sufficient nominations on Sunday to stand in the race.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak will not have to risk a vote in the polls due in March after the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) nominated him unopposed to succeed Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as its president and as the country's premier.

The change in leadership comes after national elections this year in which the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled the country for 51 years stumbled to its worst result, losing its two-thirds majority in parliament.

The battle for the post of deputy president of Umno will pit International Trade and Industry Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, 61, long the frontrunner for the post, against two men popular among grassroots supporters.

By tradition the deputy president of Umno is deputy prime minister and Mr Muhyiddin's opponents are Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam and Muhammad Muhammad Taib, a senator.

Mr Muhammad, 63, is Umno's information chief and resigned in 1997 as chief minister of Selangor state after he was charged in Brisbane with attempting to take undeclared cash equivalent to A$1.26 million out of Australia.

Mr Muhyiddin is a trained economist, speaks English well and is reckoned to have a sharp brain. He has stayed well away from anti-Chinese comments that appeal to the Umno hardcore in this country of 27 million people.

The Barisan Nasional coalition that Umno leads includes ethnic Chinese and Indian parties, without which it cannot rule.

'Mr Muhyiddin is, without a doubt, the best man for the job because of his all-round experience at the federal and state levels. People will see that as an advantage,' said political analyst Shamsul Amri Baharuddin.