FORMER Sungai Petani lawmaker Johari Abdul has been elected the parliament speaker, after the legislature convened for the first time since the general election.

He polled 147 votes while former Home Minister Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad picked up 74 votes.

The tally showed that 147 unity government lawmakers had voted for Johari.

The Perikatan Nasional bloc went with Mohd Radzi as expected.

The 222 lawmakers lead by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim have now started taking their oath of office.

The meeting will run for two days and will include the vote of confidence to determine the legitimacy of Anwar’s appointment as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister on November 24. 

It aims to prove that he has the support of the majority of MPs to lead the new government after the general election (GE) results led to a hung parliament as no party or coalition was able to garner a simple majority.

Anwar is expected to obtain the support of two-thirds of the MPs or 148 out of 222 lawmakers.

Pakatan Harapan leads the unity government with 81 seats, Barisan Nasional (30 seats), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (23), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (six), Parti Warisan Sabah (three), two independents and one each from Parti Bangsa Malaysia, Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia and Muda.

Anwar had announced during a media conference on December 5 that the first Parliament sitting would also table and approve a special allocation or mini budget to pay civil service emoluments for January.

Before the vote, the house will elect three deputy speakers.

Names on the ballot from the government side are Lanang MP Alice Lau of DAP and Cameron Highlands MP Ramli Md Nor of Barisan Nasional (BN) while PN’s choice is former Deputy Minister in Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Mas Ermieyati Samsudin. –  December 19, 2022.