PKR sec-gen: Harapan never proposed Dr M as PM

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said that Pakatan Harapan - as the largest opposition bloc - had never proposed for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be its candidate for prime minister during recent meetings.

In a statement today, Saifuddin (above) said "Pakatan Harapan Plus" - a loose coalition between Harapan and their allies - had met on June 13, where it was Mahathir who nominated himself as a candidate.

Saifuddin alleged that Mahathir wanted to serve at least 12 months as prime minister to "undo" the deeds of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and current prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

"(Warisan president) Shafie Apdal said 12 months was too long and six months should be enough.

"(The meeting ended with) Mahathir not setting a time frame and Harapan maintaining its position that (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim was their candidate," said Saifuddin.

Immediately after that meeting, members of the Harapan presidential council met among themselves where it was decided that a final announcement should be made on the PM candidacy on June 16.

That deadline was not kept and Anwar had publicly apologised to his Harapan colleagues.

Saifuddin said he explained to his Harapan colleagues that the postponement was because Anwar (below) had to visit Sarawak.

In view of this, Saifuddin said that claims of Harapan nominating anyone other than Anwar as their candidate for prime minister was not true.

"Instead, Mahathir nominated himself and (the nomination) was supported by Shafie. There was no (final) decision made during the Pakatan Harapan Plus meeting," he said.

Saifuddin said PKR's central leadership council would meet tomorrow and the party's position on Pakatan Harapan Plus talks would be finalised.

Harapan, Warisan, and a small group of former Bersatu MPs loyal to Mahathir - collectively known informally as Pakatan Harapan Plus - have held several meetings since late May to hash out plans to form a new government.

On May 31, Malaysiakini reported that Pakatan Harapan Plus believed it could cobble the numbers needed to oust Muhyiddin from office.

However, negotiations dragged on because the group could not agree on whether to nominate Mahathir or Anwar for the top job.

Yesterday, DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke (above) told Malaysiakini that talks had centered on an Anwar-Mukhriz Mahathir pairing for the top two jobs.

The last two meetings on June 9 and June 13 was when a new Mahathir-Anwar pairing was mooted.

Loke claimed that although DAP and Amanah were in favour of the Anwar-Mukhriz pairing, that option could no longer be pursued since the other MPs wanted the Mahathir-Anwar combination.

DAP's position, said Loke, was that while they were waiting on PKR to come back with an answer, they decided to make matters public after the June 16 deadline had lapsed. - Mkini