KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak need not resign as he still commands the support of the majority in Parliament, Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) president Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said.

Abdul Kadir, formerly an Umno minister, told Mingguan Malaysia in an interview that only an election can decide who has the mandate to lead the country.

“In Parliament, BN (Barisan Nasional) has the support of the majority. If not two-thirds, almost two-thirds of MPs support BN to continue being the government, which means two-thirds of the general public support BN.

“We must wait for an election to return the mandate of choosing the government and after that, the party that has the most MPs will determine who will become PM,” he said in the interview with Utusan Malaysia’s weekend edition.

He added that despite the “Citizens’ Declaration”, an initiative by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad seeking Najib’s removal, the latter still has the support of the majority of leaders in the ruling pact.

“Who then will become BN head? There are 14 political parties in BN who want Datuk Seri Najib Razak to become the leader in Parliament; in fact, in Umno, almost 95 per cent of the division leaders support him.

“So who are we to deny the public’s rights?” he added.

Although Abdul Kadir disagreed with Dr Mahathir’s method of seeking Najib’s removal, he said he was uncomfortable with the “money politics” allegedly practised in Umno, noting that this was what motivated him to leave the party in 2012.

“I am definitely sad because (Dr Mahathir) had to resort to those levels, but I understand because I myself have been embroiled with Umno for 56 years. For 56 years, I was a member of Umno and held a position in Umno — 10 years as an Umno Youth exco member, 26 years as Umno Supreme Council member, 30 years as a member of Parliament. But why did I leave?

“I left because people challenged me because I didn’t agree with the practice of money politics. So I can understand that perhaps Tun Dr Mahathir is feeling extreme disappointment to the point that he is willing to do that,” he added.

Following the formation of the PAS-Ikatan pact, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang rejected the idea of ousting Najib through means other than elections, implying it did not support the “Citizens’ Declaration,” also known as the Save Malaysia movement.

However, there were two PAS members present at the signing of the declaration, namely PAS election director Datuk Mustafa Ali and PAS ulama information chief Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali At-Takiri.

PAS Youth Chief Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz later insisted, however, that the two PAS leaders acted in their personal capacity and their signatures did not represent the party’s position.