IPOH, Nov 20 — Umno Petaling Jaya division youth chief Azlan Abu Bakar today said that the party leadership must consider the possibility of forming the federal government with Pakatan Harapan (PH) for the betterment of the country.

"In my opinion, the first step of a proper party reform should start with working together with PH for the sake of the people and the country to have a stable government.

"Opting to work with PN will likely be a repeat of what has been happening for the past few years.

"And since PH has managed to win the highest number of seats, it means that people prefer PH administration rather than a PN coalition government,” he said referring to yesterday’s result showing PH has won 82 seats — the highest number for a coalition.

Azlan said that it is time for the party to trust the people’s mandate and put aside personal egos to form the federal government.

Separately, sources told Malay Mail that Umno central leadership meeting that is currently happening at the party’s headquarters will be discussing this option of working with PH.

Earlier today, it was reported that Yang di-Pertuan Agong has decreed coalition and party leaders to notify Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azizan Azhar Harun of their numbers to form a new government by 2pm tomorrow.

He also told them to state clearly their respective prime minister candidates, Comptroller of the Istana Negara Datuk Seri Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said in a statement this afternoon as the post-election impasse continued.

The 15th general election ended yesterday with both the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalitions claiming to have enough numbers in the 222-seat Parliament to form the government.

PH currently has 82 seats while PN has 73. The Barisan Nasional coalition, which had pushed for national polls to be held this year ahead of the GE14 expiry next year, only garnered 30 seats.