PARLIAMENT - 111 Aye, 109 Nay - Dewan Rakyat speaker ousted

Malaysiakini brings you live coverage of the developments in the Dewan Rakyat today.

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111 Aye, 109 Nay - Dewan Rakyat speaker ousted

1.00pm - The motion to remove speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof has been approved with 111 votes in favour, 109 against, while one MP was not in attendance.

Deputy Speaker Rashid Hasnon, who is the Batu Pahat MP, did not vote as he was chairing the proceedings.

The proceedings will break for lunch until 2.30pm after which there will be a motion to replace Ariff with former Election Commission (EC) chairperson Azhar Azizan Harun.

There will be three subsequent motions, namely to install the former EC chief as the new Dewan Rakyat speaker, followed by a motion for Teluk Intan MP Nga Kor Ming's removal as deputy speaker, and another motion for installing Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said as his replacement.

This motion for the removal of the Parliament speaker is seen as a proxy confidence vote for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and it appears that he has passed this test.

In the previous Dewan Rakyat sitting, Muhyiddin had the razor-thin majority support of 113 MPs in the 222-member House.

Since then, Shahruddin Md Salleh (Ind – Sri Gading) had quit the government and will likely side with the opposition but this is cancelled out by Jugah Muyang (Ind – Lubuk Antu) quitting PKR to become a PN-friendly independent.

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Parliament begins bloc vote on speaker's fate, lunch postponed

12.55pm - De facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan (below) tables a motion to postpone the Dewan Rakyat's lunch break due at 1pm until the motion to remove the speaker is voted on.

The postponement motion is approved through a voice vote.

The House then commences the voting process on the motion to remove the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

Opposition MPs ask for a bloc vote and is backed by 15 MPs, which is the minimum requirement.

A bloc vote commences.

For information, a bloc vote requires the votes of all MPs to be counted. - Mkini