The Umno supreme council has decided to withdraw the party's support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin with immediate effect.
The decision comes less than 12 hours after Muhyiddin announced that Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been appointed as his deputy.
In revealing the party's decision, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Muhyiddin should step aside for an interim prime minister to take over his duties.
"Umno urges Muhyiddin to resign with honour, to allow a new prime minister to be appointed for a limited term," he added in the 12.50am live broadcast.
The interim premier, he said, should only be focused on the people's welfare and remain in power until "herd immunity" against the Covid-19 virus is achieved.
Following this, a fresh general election should be held.
Meanwhile, Zahid, who was previously linked to attempts by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to capture Putrajaya, also said Umno would not support any efforts to install the opposition leader as prime minister.
He said the decision to withdraw support for Muhyiddin was due to the Perikatan Nasional government's "failures" which included its inability to manage the pandemic and to fulfil the people's aspirations.
In March, the Umno general assembly empowered Zahid and the supreme council to decide when the party should quit the PN government.
Zahid had said then that he was confident Umno ministers would relinquish their posts when a decision is made.
However, he did not mention if Ismail and the other Umno ministers would resign in his speech after the supreme council meet.
It is believed that Ismail's appointment is an attempt by Muhyiddin to placate Umno and buy his administration, which is holding on to power with a tenuous majority, more time.
It remains unclear if Umno's 38 lawmakers would heed the supreme council's call.
The majority of them are believed to be aligned to Ismail and Hishammuddin Hussein - who was promoted as senior minister yesterday.
With Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz supporting Muhyiddin again, Umno needs two MPs to revoke their support for Parliament to be hung and three MPs to rescind their backing for the prime minister to be in the minority.
The Umno supreme council convened at 8.30pm last night for a virtual meeting. The meeting dragged on to about 12.30am this morning. - Mkini
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