Najib wrong, 'party' majority not needed to form gov't – Aziz Bari

GE14 | BN president Najib Razak's claim that no party presently has a simple majority to enable it to form government is wrong, says constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari.

The newly elected Pakatan Harapan Tebing Tinggi assemblyperson said according to the federal constitution, there is no provision requiring a party per se, to obtain a simple majority in the assembly to be able to form government.

Instead, the constitution only specifies “anyone”, and not “a party”, that has a simple majority.

"I want to respond to Najib Razak's statement that no party has a simple majority. This is not true.

"Now we (Harapan) already have a simple majority, that is by “a party and other parties”.

"The constitution does not mention 'party', but says 'anyone' with a simple majority in the Dewan (can form government)," he says at a press conference in Ipoh today.

Najib in his speech addressing BN's defeat at the polls yesterday did not address Harapan as the winner, but claimed no single party had a simple majority to form government, and claimed the decision was thus in the Agong's hands.

Harapan has a simple parliamentary majority with their 113 parliamentary seats, and a total of 122 including its partners Warisan in Sabah, in a House of 222 seats.

Aziz Bari opined that Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad needs to be sworn in as prime minister as soon as possible, so that the government can operate normally.

Tightlipped on Perak status

When asked on Perak Pakatan Harapan's status, he refused to comment and said he would leave it to the Pakatan Harapan Perak leaders to answer.

He also refused to comment on the possibility of him being one of the candidates for Harapan's Perak menteri besar.

Pakatan Harapan Perak won 29 state seats against BN's 27 and PAS' 3, and technically Harapan needs one more seat to gain the required simple majority.

Asked whether Perak Harapan can form the state government with 29 seats with consent from the Perak sultan, Abdul Aziz also refused to comment.

Thus far, both BN and Harapan have remained quiet on the issue and have not issued any press statements or called a press conference. - Mkini