KUCHING, May 10: Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says based on the majority support granted to him by the Members of Parliament (MPs) he will be Malaysia’s prime minister where he is expected to be sworn in by 5pm today.
He said he has the support from the majority of MPs who are now trying to sign a declaration to grant support for him to be the seventh prime minister of Malaysia.
“We stand by the rule of law. Whatever we do is governed by the constitution and the law of this country.
“The condition is that the prime minister should have the support of the majority of the Members of Parliament. It doesn’t say the support of any party.
“As long as he has the support of the majority of the Members of Parliament, he is entitled to be the prime minister,” said Dr Mahathir in a press conference which was broadcast live over his social media page today.
Apart from the support of PH MPs, Dr Mahathir said he also had the support of 14 MPs from Parti Warisan Sabah and also other smaller parties from Sabah.
“So, we have well over 135 seats,” said Dr Mahathir.
He also stressed that there was an urgency to form the government of the day because former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had ceased to be the prime minister.
“(Datuk Seri) Najib’s work as interim government is now over,” said Dr Mahathir, added that a government must be formed immediately to “attend to the mess”.
“The country is without a government and the first thing needed to be done is to appoint a prime minister.
“This is the role of (the Yang di-Pertuan) Agong who will make his decision based on the support of the majority of the Members of Parliament,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said there was some confusion during an earlier press conference which took place at about 2.55 am this morning when it was announced that Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is the “designated prime minister” as he thought only the leader of the party with enough majority may be appointed as prime minister.
He said today, he was clear that based on the rule of law of the country and the constitution, as long as he garnered the support of the majority of MPs, he could be the prime minister of the new government.
He said there are already enough MPs from PH to meet the requirements and these MPs are signing a declaration giving their support for him to be appointed as the seventh prime minister.
“We hope by 5pm, we will have a prime minister,” said Dr Mahathir. — DayakDaily
