By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Aug 20: Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah has appointed Bera MP Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The appointment was announced by the comptroller of the Royal Household Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin this evening.
He will be sworn in at 2.30pm at Istana Negara tomorrow (Aug 21).
Ismail Sabri, who is the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) vice president, was named for the prime ministership after he had obtained the support of 114 MPs out of 220 MPs.
The other candidate was Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was reported by various media outlets to have the support of 105 MPs.
There are 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat but two have been left vacant after their passing; a bloc of at least 111 is needed for a simple majority in the chamber.
Ismail Sabri was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the previous Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government which ruled from March 10, 2020 until Aug 16, 2021.
He would succeed PN leader Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who had resigned as prime minister on Aug 16, 2021, after losing majority support in Parliament which resulted in the collapse of the PN government.
On Tuesday (Aug 17), Dewan Rakyat speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun had issued a notice, instructing 220 MPs to submit statutory declarations to nominate their prime minister candidate to Istana Negara by Wednesday (Aug 18).
Yesterday (Aug 19), a total of 114 MPs from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), Umno, Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), Malaysian India Congress (MIC), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku Sabah (Star), Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas) and independent MPs were summoned to have an audience with the King to verify their stand on nominating Ismail Sabri as the ninth prime minister of Malaysia. — DayakDaily
