PN ‘prematurely’ declared 115 SDs: Report

(The Sun) – The New Straits Times claims Perikatan Nasional’s 115 statutory declarations backing its chairperson Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister “prematurely” includes Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and some Barisan Nasional MPs.

Muhyiddin submitted the statutory declarations yesterday, but GPS and BN decided not to side with either Pakatan Harapan or PN yesterday.

NST quotes unnamed insiders explaining that as long as the deadline at 2pm yesterday hasn’t closed, anyone can change their mind.

“He (Muhyiddin) thought by submitting the SDs early it would help secure his second attempt to be prime minister.

“He said he was shocked at what His Majesty said, that he didn’t have the majority, but the entire country had already seen the GPS statement earlier today.

“Basically, GPS’ consent was not properly sought by PN,” NST quotes one insider as saying.

According to Muhyiddin, he had secured the support of 115 members of parliament, hence a simple majority was achieved.

Without GPS’s 23 seats, PN is now left with 92 seats.

The identities of the remaining 19 MPs who signed the SD with PN are not yet known.

Since neither PN nor PH could secure the required majority, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has summoned all 30 BN MPs to Istana Negara today.