Confidence vote will end disputes over Anwar’s govt, says Amirudin

 

PKR vice-president Amirudin Shari says there should not be a repeat of the government’s legitimacy being questioned, as before.

KAJANG: A confidence vote in the Dewan Rakyat on Anwar Ibrahim’s position as prime minister is necessary to settle questions about the legitimacy of his government, a PKR leader said today.

PKR vice-president Amirudin Shari said there should not be a repeat of what happened with the previous governments (of Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob) whose legitimacy was questioned for a long time.

“I think (the confidence vote) is necessary so that there are no disputes about the legitimacy of the new unity government,” said Amirudin, who is Gombak MP and Selangor menteri besar.

Amirudin said the 2023 budget, which must be tabled by the new government, could also be regarded as a confidence vote, if a formal motion of confidence was not tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

By parliamentary convention, a sitting government must resign if the budget or a finance bill tabled is not approved by the House.

Last week, after taking office as prime minister, Anwar had said he would test his coalition’s majority support when Parliament convenes on Dec 19. He said a vote of confidence would be the first item on the agenda.

Anwar was appointed prime minister on Thursday as the leader of the party with the largest number of seats in the Dewan Rakyat. Pakatan Harapan, of which Anwar is chairman, won 82 seats in the general election.

He has received pledges of support from Barisan Nasional, Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, Warisan and several minor parties and independent MPs. Anwar said there were enough votes for a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, Muhyiddin, chairman of Perikatan Nasional which won 73 seats, has maintained that he had sworn statements of support from 115 MPs. He said Anwar must prove that he had majority support.

Amirudin’s support for the confidence motion is in contrast to the view of Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh of DAP, who said the confidence vote was not necessary as Anwar had achieved overwhelming support. - FMT