THERE are no legal hurdles for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be appointed the country’s next prime minister after Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election, say law experts.

To be appointed prime minister by the king, one only needs to be a member of parliament with the confidence of the majority in the Dewan Rakyat, they say, citing provisions in the Federal Constitution.

Article 43(2)(a) states that the king “shall appoint as prime minister to preside over the cabinet a member of the House of Representatives who, in his judgment, is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House”.

Which party he represents or whether he is the leader of that party is irrelevant, said Universiti Malaya law professor Azmi Sharom.

“It is very simple. The king only needs to appoint the MP who commands the confidence of the majority in the House.

“If we look at the Constitution, the provision has nothing to do with the political party. It doesn’t say that the MP has to be the leader of any party.

“There are now enough MPs, regardless of party, in the House who will support Dr Mahathir as PM, even if we put aside those from Parti Warisan Sabah,” he said.

At a press conference this morning, BN chairman Najib Razak, whose party suffered a shocking defeat in the polls, said no single party had won a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

He said the decision to appoint a new prime minister now lay in the hands of the king.

PH, led by its chairman by Dr Mahathir, won 113 federal seats in the polls yesterday, including nine from DAP in East Malaysia. Unofficial ally Warisan won eight in Sabah.

BN won 79 seats. Even cooperation with PAS, which won 18 seats, would not be enough for BN to retain Putrajaya.

This morning, Dr Mahathir, who won the Langkawi parliamentary seat, was supposed to be sworn in as the seventh prime minister before the king, but Istana Negara announced a postponement of the ceremony for security reasons.

Constitutional expert Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar said Najib implying that PH did not win the majority might be a “face-saving formula”.

The delay by the palace, he said, might be because “this has never been done before” – a non-BN member of parliament being appointed prime minister.

“We are venturing into unchartered territory. They likely want to do it properly and maybe to confirm the actual election results,” he said.

As PH candidates had all contested under the PKR logo, Gurdial said the palace might want to confirm with PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on which MP has the confidence of the majority in the House.

“They may want some form of verification. If in doubt, they can also call the other party heads. This may take them some time.

“But there is no doubt that, if following the Constitution, the king must have a clear indication of who commands the confidence of the majority in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said. – May 10, 2018.