DR Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation as prime minister has plunged the Pakatan Harapan (PH) into a crisis as 37 MPs, including the entire Bersatu slate, have quit the ruling coalition.
The coalition now has 102 MPs, 10 short of the threshold to form a government.
Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin announced that his party has left PH and will still support Dr Mahathir as prime minister, alluding to a possible new alliance speculated over the weekend.
PKR sacked its deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali and his compatriot, vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin, and Azmin later declared that he and 10 other MPs had quit PH.
In a day of fast-moving political events, all eyes are now on the National Palace where the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has granted an audience to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.
Pakatan government due to fall following Bersatu, PKR11’s exit
LESS than two years into government, Pakatan Harapan (PH) is expected to fall after the exit of Bersatu and 11 MPs aligned to Mohamed Azmin Ali.
After the exodus, PH will be left with 102 MPs, 10 short of the simple majority of 112 needed to form government.
PH’s 102 consists of 39 from PKR, DAP (42), Amanah (11), Parti Warisan Sabah (9) and Upko (1).
With the resignation of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today, PH, which is headed by PKR adviser and Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, will need to get additional support from other MPs if it wants to remain as the government.
On Sunday, the country was put on hold when the rumours first surfaced that Dr Mahathir would be taking Bersatu out of PH to form a new government with Barisan Nasional, PAS, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and Parti Warisan Sabah.
Later that night, sacked PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali held a dinner with the MPs from BN and PAS at the Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya.
Despite the media camping out there the whole day, the group did not explain the purpose of the gathering.
Dr Mahathir, however, did not attend the gathering.
After chairing the Bersatu supreme council meeting earlier yesterday, Dr Mahathir returned to his home to rest.
Around 10.45am this morning, PH president and deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamed Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng met Dr Mahathir at his residence.
By 12.30pm, all the leaders left without speaking to the media. Lim and Anwar went back to their parties to hold emergency meetings.
In 2016, Dr Mahathir came back out of retirement to form Bersatu with the objective of ousting then prime minister Najib Razak and Barisan Nasional.
In 2017, Bersatu joined PH to face the 14th general election.
After a two-week campaign, PH managed to defeat BN by winning 113 seats to BN’s 79. PAS took 18 while four seats went to independents. With the help of Warisan (8), Pakatan formed the new government on May 10, 2018.
As at yesterday, Pakatan had 139 seats consisting of PKR (50), DAP (42), Bersatu (26), Amanah (11), Warisan (9) and Upko (1).
Dr Mahathir was prime minister under BN for 22 years from 1981-2003
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
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