KUALA LUMPUR 17/04/2018. Tun Dr Mahathir giving a press conference afer chairing Pakatan Harapan's presidential council meeting at Menara Yayasan Selangor , Petaling Jaya. MALAYMAIL/Azneal Ishak.
PETALING JAYA— Pakatan Harapan (PH) has a contingency plan in place should poll regulators bar the pact’s candidates from using PKR’s symbol in the general election, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad asserted today.
The PH chairman said this was to ensure that the 14th general election will be a direct contest between his pact and the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) as much as possible.
“We have some ideas, our secret weapon, as to what to do, but we can’t tell you or else the other party will know,” he said after chairing PH’s presidential council meeting at Menara Yayasan Selangor here today.
The former prime minister added that PH was anticipating more underhanded moves to sabotage its preparations for the polls, citing the provisional deregistration of his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) on the eve of Parliament’s dissolution as an example.
He said this also derailed the pact’s bid for registration, which he pointed out was submitted almost a year ago.
The Election Commission (EC) was previously reported as saying it must approve the use of PKR’s logo by all of the pact’s candidates, before backtracking on its remarks.
However, Dr Mahathir and his allies are not taking things for granted.
“We will not be surprised if, a day before nomination day, the EC comes out to say Pakatan candidates can’t contest with PKR’s logo,” he said.
He said his pact had tried to consult with the EC on the matter, without success.
An EC official purportedly told PH that the commission was currently preoccupied with organising the general election, according to him.
“We wanted to know their stand on us using PKR’s logo according to the law and we wanted them to explain how they will manage GE14,” he added
Dr Mahathir suggested today that the EC was intentionally delaying its response to deny his pact time to react to a negative outcome.
On April 7, Dr Mahathir and other PH leaders announced that all candidates from the pact’s four parties will contest under the PKR logo on May 9.
MALAY MAIL
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