A PKR lawmaker has continued to question the legitimacy of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Perikatan Nasional (PN) despite the ruling coalition passing three bloc votes held on ministerial budgets during the committee stage at the Dewan Rakyat.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim said this is because none of the three bloc votes held yesterday and today showed that Muhyiddin and the ruling coalition enjoyed a simple majority of 111 support from a total of 222 MPs.
"PN led by Muhyiddin won three bloc votes at the committee stage of the budget. Does this mean PN is a legitimate government? The answer is no.
"The approval of the budget does not impose any absolute majority," Hassan said in a statement today.
He argued that PN's victory in bloc votes is only enough to pass the ministerial budget in the Dewan Rakyat but it is different when it comes to the status and position of the prime minister.
"The legitimacy of the prime minister requires an absolute majority vote, not only from those who are in the Dewan Rakyat meeting when a division is called but it also needs (the presence) of all the lawmakers elected in the 14th general election - all 222 MPs who were elected by the people as stipulated in the Federal Constitution.
"There should be no less than 222 MPs. (However) with the death of Batu Sapi MP (Liew Vui Keong) and Gerik MP (Hasbullah Osman), the number of MPs in the House has reduced to 220," he said.
This is the threshold required for Muhyiddin to verify if he himself and PN enjoy the majority support of the Dewan Rakyat or at least the support of 111 MPs, Hassan added.
"Out of the three bloc votes conducted, the highest support obtained by PN was 108 votes. The PN government has yet to reach the threshold of 111 votes.
"In conclusion, since the day Muhyiddin was appointed as the premier from March 1, he and his government have not been able to prove that they have the majority support as stipulated in the Constitution.
"As such, the legitimacy of Muhyiddin and PN is still in question," he said.
Budget 2021 was seen as a vote of confidence on Muhyiddin's leadership since PN took over via a political coup, drawing the attention of the public.
On Nov 26, the opposition failed in its bloc vote gambit, resulting in Budget 2021 passing the policy stage via voice votes.
This week, lawmakers need to vote for the budget allocation of all ministries. As of today, three bloc votes had been called.
The first round of voting yesterday saw 105 MPs supporting the budget for the Prime Minister's Department while PN obtained 106 votes for the Finance Ministry's allocation.
A total of 108 MPs supported the allocation for the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry in the bloc vote held today.
- Mkini
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