Done deal, Umno supports unity government not led by PN
This invariably means that the Malay party is throwing its support to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition as, similar to PN, it is also vying for enough parliamentarian backings over the past four days to appoint its prime minister candidate, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
"The supreme council has gone through the details from the two meetings that it had with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and PN and has unanimously agreed to uphold and the Agong's decree urging for Barisan Nasional (BN) to take part in a unity government not led by PN to ensure the formation of a stable and prosperous government.
"The supreme council also agreed that every members who won their respective parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election (GE15) must abide and accept whatever forms of Federal Government that will be proclaimed by the Agong.
"The council also expresses its solid support for Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi to continue lead Umno as the party president and his chairmanship of BN," read the statement by party secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan.
Umno's latest stance over the political limbo contradicted BN's repeated assurances that its 30 MPs will side neither with PH nor PN, stressing that it wanted to be neutral on matters concerning the appointment of PM and formation of government.
However, yesterday Zahid caught controversy after a leaked letter addressed to the Agong -- signed by him -- had essentially pulled a u-turn whereby the BN chairman informed the Agong that the coalition has expressed its full support for Anwar and PH.
Malaysia has entered a stalemate after none of the parties which stood in GE15 last Saturday won enough parliamentary seats to form government.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) has won the most seats at 82, followed by Perikatan Nasional (PN): 73; Barisan Nasional (BN): 30; Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS): 22; Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS): 7 and others: 6.
The impasse occurred as parties needed to at least secure 112 parliamentary seats to form government as Malaysia has a total of 222 parliamentary seats.
Due to the impasse, the number one leaders in both PH and PN; Anwar Ibrahim and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, respectively; have been negotiating with rival party, BN, in a bid to woo support to form government.
