No confidence vote against Najib as early as first week of Parliament
(The Malaysia Insider) – PKR will press ahead with a no-confidence vote against embattled Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak despite not having obtained the agreement of its partners in Pakatan Harapan, with a motion to be filed as early as within the first week of the next Parliament sitting.
This was discussed at PKR’s political bureau meeting recently, although the matter has yet to be brought up for further discussion with its Pakatan Harapan allies DAP and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah).
With less than two weeks before Parliament reconvenes on October 19, PKR is mulling a few options on how to push through a no-confidence motion.
PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli said it could be in the form of an emergency motion, which can be filed by any federal lawmaker within 24 hours.
“The Speaker will most likely rule it out and not allow it to be debated but we can try to persuade the Speaker to at least allow whoever tables it to read the contents of the motion so that it is in Parliament’s records,” the Pandan MP told The Malaysian Insider.
Another option is to ensure that the 2016 Budget, which Najib is scheduled to table on October 23, is defeated when it is put to a vote.
Though symbolic, Rafizi said such actions would be akin to a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister, who is also the finance minister.
Numbers game
Opposition parties, however, lack the numbers for the two-thirds majority needed to push a no-confidence motion through, with 88 members in the 222-seat of the Dewan Rakyat.
The newly-formed Pakatan Harapan opposition pact only has 72 MPs. PAS is not part of the pact following a fallout with DAP that led to the collapse of the earlier alliance, Pakatan Rakyat. The Islamist party has also vowed not to work with Amanah, branding its leaders “traitors” as they were once from PAS.
Moreover, it is not known if former ally PAS will support such a move, after president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang in July warned his MPs not to support any motion of no confidence against the prime minister if it is tabled to force his resignation, arguing that the Islamist party would only make changes through “healthy” ways.
PKR’s allies DAP and Amanah, too, are pessimistic over the success of a no-confidence vote against Najib, citing their lack of numbers.
“The question of when (it is tabled) is secondary, the question is whether you have the numbers. Even with PAS, it is not enough.
