DAP and Amanah have asked PKR to accept the option of naming Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Pakatan Harapan Plus’ prime ministerial candidate, as it was evident Anwar Ibrahim did not have sufficient numbers to back him.
They said that PKR’s decision to stick to naming its president as the PM candidate would end in failure as they would not be able to muster enough numbers to form the federal government by replacing Perikatan Nasional.
“The first option – of having Anwar as the PM candidate – would only garner the support of 96 MPs, that is 91 from PH (38 PKR, 42 DAP and 11 Amanah) and five more including Dr Mahathir and the four Bersatu MPs with him.
“Anwar’s attempt to get Sarawak-ruling pact GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) to support PH Plus also failed, and the deadline given to him to form the support has also ended,” said DAP’s organising secretary Anthony Loke and Amanah’s communications director Khalid Samad in a joint statement today.
They added PH had previously discussed two options – the first being Anwar named as the PM candidate, and if that fails to garner enough support, then the second option would be to nominate Dr Mahathir as the prime minister with Anwar as the deputy.
“As agreed, if the first option fails, we hope PKR will come back to the decision made on May 30 to accept the second option,” they said.
Earlier today PKR said it would reject any proposals to nominate Dr Mahathir as prime minister, and will stick to naming its own president to the post.
“We remain with the consensus that PH nominates Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister,” said the PKR central leadership committee after its meeting.
The party however said it was open to discussing with all parties, including Dr Mahathir, on how to save the country.
The party released its statement after holding a special online meeting with PKR MPs this morning.
PKR is currently in a tussle with its PH allies, DAP and Amanah, who have decided to nominate Dr Mahathir as the coalition’s prime minister candidate to face PN in fresh elections, or if they have sufficient numbers to replace PN at the federal level.
Loke and Khalid said while they respected PKR’s stand, they were nevertheless surprised by the party’s decision to reject Dr Mahathir as he was the second option as agreed in the PH presidential council meeting on May 30.
Anwar, who is also the opposition leader, had chaired the meeting.
“We hope the work to obtain support through the second option can continue as agreed, as the PN administration is clearly damaging the nation’s institutions and economy,” they added. – TMI