KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — All Barisan Nasional component parties have nominated Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister candidate, making the total number of MPs behind him 96.
MCA and MIC confirmed their support in a statement issued under the BN banner, just hours after Umno and PAS made a similar declaration.
“Umno (with 39 MPs) together with its coalition Barisan Nasional namely MCA (two MPs) and MIC (one MP) have agreed to nominate Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the eighth prime minister to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong,” the coalition said in a statement.
The statement was signed by BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Mansor.
“This means 42 of Umno, MCA and MIC’s MPs will give full support to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin,” the coalition added.
MCA and MIC’s nomination effectively gives Muhyiddin the edge over Pakatan Harapan’s PM-designate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has 92 of the coalition’s MPs behind him.
But Muhyiddin is still 16 MPs short of getting the majority needed to cement his appointment. He could, however, obtain the numbers should lawmakers from GPS and Sabah’s Warisan decide to declare for the Bersatu president.
GPS issued a statement this evening saying they would announce who their candidate is this Sunday.
Earlier, Umno and PAS declared their support behind Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyidin Yassin to become the eighth prime minister of Malaysia.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan confirmed this in a joint statement also signed by his Umno counterpart, Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
