Ismail Sabri: GE15 will be decided by cabinet

 

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob maintained that in terms of procedure, the decision to dissolve the Parliament and pave the way for the 15th general election will be decided by the cabinet.

He also declined to commit to a general election this year or next, stating that people should wait and see.

“The party is different from the government because the party is aware that if there is a proposal, it will be brought to the cabinet first to be approved.

“If the cabinet decides on a date, the cabinet will give me the mandate to discuss with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. That is in terms of procedure.

“So whether it (the general election) will be this year or not, we will have to wait,” Ismail said to reporters after Umno’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur today.

This comes amid pressure from the Umno leadership for Ismail Sabri to call for early national polls.

At Umno’s EGM today, party delegates had unanimously voted in favour of amending its constitution in order to allow party polls to be delayed up to six months after a general election.

Party constitution

Ismail Sabri said that Umno's decision to amend its party constitution today only concerns the party polls.

“What happened today is about the election within the party,” he added.

Previously Umno can only postpone its election by up to 18 months.

With this amendment, it now has the option to postpone up to 18 months from the end of its leadership’s term or up to six months after a general election, whichever date comes later.

The Umno election was due in June last year but was postponed by 18 months until the end of this year.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had earlier said the amendment was not meant to save his position but that it was meant to provide stability to the party going into the upcoming general election. - Mkini