Annuar Musa: Umno backs Muhyiddin as PM for GE15

Umno and PAS have in principle agreed to nominate Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin for prime minister after the next general election.

According to Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa, this position was stated during a recent Muafakat Nasional meeting.

Muafakat Nasional is a formal coalition between Umno and PAS.

"During the meeting, we discussed (about nominating Muhyiddin) at the committee level and we agreed to continue supporting Muhyiddin (above) because he is part of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.

"For the upcoming election, in principle, both parties agreed to nominate or support Muhyiddin as our candidate for prime minister," he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.

Annuar (above) was referring to the Muafakat Nasional secretariat, a working group for policy and coordination matters between the two parties. Annuar is the secretary of this committee.

He said that the resolutions made by the secretariat will need to be referred to the leadership of the respective parties.

PN's inter-party relations are increasingly under scrutiny as speculation of snap polls continue to simmer, since Muhyiddin only controls a wafer-thin majority in the Dewan Rakyat, which has to meet and vote on bills in July.

Presently, PN is not a formal coalition and there is no indication when they will begin seat negotiations.

In a related development, Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin (below) said any decision made by PN needed to be referred to the party.

He said this when commenting on a meeting between PN leaders and Muhyiddin which took place yesterday.

"It is correct and not unusual for party leaders who support the PN government to meet.

"What is important is for decisions to be scrutinised by the respective parties for endorsement.

"This was practised especially in Umno because ignoring (this practice) will make a decision a mere pipe dream," he wrote on Facebook today.  - Mkini