Absent Nazri mistakenly counted as voting for Budget 2021

 

PARLIAMENT | The number of parliamentarians who passed the Finance Ministry's allocations in a bloc vote called at committee stage debates yesterday in the Dewan Rakyat has been corrected from 107 to 106.

This comes after Tasek Gelugor MP Shahbudin Yahya as the lawmaker-in-charge of counting the votes for Bloc C was found to have mistakenly marked Nazri Abdul Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) as being in support, when in fact the latter was absent.

Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Rashid Hasnon said the number of parliamentarians counted as absent has also been corrected from 18 to 19.

"Meanwhile, 95 members remain against it," said Rashid who read out a notice by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.

"Therefore I have asked the Dewan Rakyat secretary to correct the number of votes. The changes do not affect the outcome of the bloc vote," said Rashid.

Rashid's announcement was met with an outcry from Pakatan Harapan MPs who demanded an explanation from Shahbudin.

Shahbudin then said he saw Nazri in the House several minutes before the votes were counted and had apologised to Azhar after being alerted of his mistake.

"I was certain Padang Rengas (Nazri) was in the House at the time.

"I had no intention to mislead the House or go against the parliamentary orders," he said.

Among others, RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) and Hannah Yeoh (Harapan-Segambut) urged the speaker to make a ruling that would ensure the same mistake would not be repeated.

Fuziah Salleh (Harapan-Kuantan) also cited Standing Order 47 (1) and 47 (2), which stated that MPs acting as vote counters for their bloc must clearly ask each lawmaker on their side of the division whether they were for, against, or abstaining from a vote.

She said the matter is more urgent in this current session as the Perikatan Nasional government only holds a two-seat majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Aside from Harapan MPs, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman also stood up to request a ruling from Rashid to ensure that any bloc votes called today would be done accurately and transparently.

After a heated outcry, Rashid eventually said any MPs who remain unsatisfied could formally raise the matter with Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun under Standing Order 43.

Since the PN-led alliance took over the government in March, each time a bloc vote is called - a process where every vote is tabulated - it will come under intense scrutiny.

This is because Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is believed to command the support of no more than 112 MPs. It would only take a few defections to topple his government.

 - Mkini