KUALA LUMPUR - Umno supreme council member Datuk Dr. Mohd Puad Zarkashi told PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli to prepare more 'umbrellas' for the 15th General Election (GE15).
This is because he claimed that the GE15 protest petition had failed to garner the desired public's response.
"I want to order Rafizi to prepare a lot of umbrellas. Prepare umbrellas before the rain. It seems that his petition has failed.
"Why fail? Because I understand Bersih only has 3,000 who signatories who supported their petition. That means the people do want elections to take place this year.
"The people are eager to get a stable government. That's why Rafizi and Bersih petitions don't get any support," he said at Umno HQ, here, before attending the council's special meeting.
The initial rumours of the government wanting to hold GE15 this year sparked protests from various parties, especially the opposition, for describing it as inappropriate given the risk of flooding following the Northeast Monsoon (MTL).
Following this, Rafizi launched a petition to Protest GE15 During Floods: Save Lives Not Positions which started on September 27.
However, according to the Sinar Harian survey, the petition now has 24,255 supports compared to the targetted 25,000 supports.
Meanwhile, last Thursday, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) 2.0 also launched a petition protesting GE15 being held during the monsoon season.
In the petition, Bersih 2.0 asked the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to prioritize the safety and convenience of the people before deciding on the dissolution of Parliament.
Sinar Harian survey of the petition link found it had received more than 3,000 supports compared to the 5,000 target.