Nazri: BN will ‘gladly’ hand over power if people’s mandate lost
Nazri, who is the Padang Rengas member of parliament (MP), reminded that there had been a smooth handover of power in the five states which Pakatan won in the last general election. “We won’t form the government by cheating or any other improper means… There was no unrest, no attempt to resist (handing over power) because we do not want to form the government if we don’t get the mandate of the people. Why should we?”
Barisan Nasional (BN) has no qualms about handing over power to the opposition should it lose the people’s mandate in the upcoming general election.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz gave this assurance today, saying they (BN) will follow the rules.
“We will gladly hand over and we will not stay one second more (than we should) if we lose the mandate of the people.
“We have shown that we faithfully stick to the rules and results,” Nazri said in his speech at the International Conference on Malaysia 13th General Elections organised by the office of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Nazri’s comments come amid Anwar’s calls for the ruling coalition to guarantee a smooth and peaceful transition of power should Pakatan Rakyat win the most seats at the general election.
Additionally, Nazri’s remarks reflect BN’s confidence going into the 13th general election which is widely seen as the most hotly contested race in Malaysia’s history.
Nazri, who is the Padang Rengas member of parliament (MP), reminded that there had been a smooth handover of power in the five states which Pakatan won in the last general election.
“We won’t form the government by cheating or any other improper means… There was no unrest, no attempt to resist (handing over power) because we do not want to form the government if we don’t get the mandate of the people. Why should we?” Nazri said.
After the 2008 general election, BN lost control of Penang, Kedah, Selangor and Perak while the PAS-led government continued to rule Kelantan.
However, BN returned to power in Perak in 2009 following the defections of three Pakatan assemblymen which swung the balance of power in the state.
According to Nazri, BN refused to accept several MPs who quit PKR into the ruling coalition’s fold even though these independent representatives were pro-BN.
“We never attempted to induce them to join us unlike the Sept 16 fiasco to buy over MPs so that there can be a change of government.
“If you believe in electoral democracy, you don’t do that. BN won’t buy over MPs from the other side,” Nazri said, referring to Anwar’s failed takeover of the federal government on Sept 16, 2009 by engineering the crossover of a bloc of BN MPs.
During his speech, Nazri also stressed that elections in Malaysia has always been conducted in a free and fair manner, even if the system was not perfect.
Nazri maintained that the present government has been open to suggestion and is committed to reform in order to ensure future elections will continue to be free and fair.
“There is always room for improvement. If we didn’t believe there was room for improvement, we would not have allowed the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms,” Nazri said.
