Mukhriz: Pakatan will win bigger victory if Kedah state election is forced over Speaker deadlock

ALOR SETAR: Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said the state's Pakatan Harapan will win a much bigger victory if a fresh state election was forced due to the deadlock over appointing a State Legislative Assembly Speaker.

Mukhriz, who is state Pakatan Harapan chairman, said that leaders of opposition parties such as PAS and Umno admitted that there is a possibility a state election will be held, but most were keen to avoid it.

“As all are aware, it is costly to conduct a state election and I believe everybody is still tired from GE14."

“However, if the state election is forced, we will make sure that we enjoy a bigger victory,” said Mukhriz after chairing the state exco meeting at Wisma Darul Aman here on Wednesday (June 27).

On the appointment of the Speaker, Datuk Seri Mukhriz said, “We are in the process of negotiating with a few opposition assemblymen and so far the responses are positive.”

There has been a deadlock in the appointment of the Kedah State Assembly Speaker.

Both sides - Pakatan and the Opposition - are tied at 18 seats each in the assembly.

Pakatan Harapan's four component parties - Pribumi, PKR, Amanah and DAP - won 18 state seats in GE14 of the total of 36.

The opposition also won 18 seats, with PAS taking 15 seats and Umno 3 seats.

While Pakatan wants to determine who was appointed as Speaker, Mukhriz has claimed that PAS wants to appoint a non-elected representative as Speaker.

Mukhriz has said this is not acceptable as the Opposition will then have 19 votes in the state assembly, which is more than what the state government under Pakatan has.- Star