Faced with an unprecedented challenge to its dominance over the ethnic Malay majority in the coming general election, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) is planning to pack its candidate list with new faces at the parliamentary and state assembly contests.

But the proposal to nominate first-timers for up to 40 per cent of the seats is facing a determined pushback from Umno's powerful warlords, senior officials say ahead of Parliament likely to be dissolved tomorrow, paving the way for the Malaysian polls to be held by May.