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Perikatan Nasional (PN) General Secretary Hamzah Bin Zainudin has said on Nov. 21 the coalition have the 112 seats needed to form a new Malaysian government, a claim disputed by Pakatan Harapan (PH).
One hundred and twelve
Malaysia's Dewan Rakyat, or lower house of parliament, has 222 seats. This means that in order to form a government, a prime minister needs the support of 50 per cent plus one seat, or 112 seats.
This happens to be exactly the number of seats that Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional (BN) have collectively have, which are 82 and 30 respectively.
So at 1.50pm on Nov. 21, when PN Secretary General Hamzah Bin Zainuddin released a statement saying that 112 MPs had put their confidence in former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the question became how he had managed to do so.
PN comprises Bersatu and PAS. Bersatu is a former PH component party until it forced a split in 2020 and allied with BN to form the government, while PAS is an Islamist party that used to form the Pakatan Rakyat opposition group with Anwar's Keadilan and the Democratic Action Party. PAS is now the single largest party in the Malaysian parliament with 44 seats.
PN campaigned hard against PH during GE15, and has made it clear that it would not work with them to form a government.
Frogger
PH Secretary General Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has rubbished the claims of the PN leadership.
PH said in the statement that they were in serious negotiations with BN, and were discussing the main issues of political stability and economic recovery, "putting the interest of the people and the state" as a priority.
The statement also cited BN Chairman Zahid Hamidi's earlier statement that no UMNO MP could negotiate independently, or run afoul of the newly introduced anti-party hopping law which was implemented prior to GE15.
This law means that any individual MP that changes coalition allegiance indecently without party approval will be subject to removal from that party, and their seat will be subject to by-election.
This means that for the moment, Zahid is in BN's driver's seat, and that any UMNO MP, such as Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who has openly declared their opposition to a BN and PH government has their hands tied or risk losing their seat.
But even if Hishamuddin makes good on his declaration that he was unconcerned by the possibility of being sacked, he would still have to win a by-election, leaving open to question whether PN can rely on his seat.
The deadline to submit PM candidates and governing coalitions was initially set for 2pm on Nov. 21, but has been delayed by 24 hours to 2pm the next day.
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Top image by Muhyiddin Yassin/Facebook & Anwar Ibrahim/Facebook