MUAFAKAT Nasional, comprising Umno and PAS, are now backing Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister, after both parties insisted earlier they wanted snap elections.

In a joint statement, Annuar Musa and Takiyuddin Hassan said the two parties’ 57 MPs will back the Bersatu president for the post. 

“Muafakat Nasional has agreed to nominate Muhyiddin Yassin, the Pagoh MP as the eighth prime minister,” the secretaries-general of both parties said.

With Umno and PAS  and the other BN component parties backing Muhyiddin, the former home minister now has the support of 97 parliamentarians. Currently, Pakatan Harapan has all 92 MPs in its stable backing Anwar Ibrahim for prime minister.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Barisan Nasional secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said all component parties have agreed to nominate Muhyiddin as prime minister.

“Umno, which has 39 MPs, together with MCA (2) and MIC (1), fully support Muhyiddin,” he said in the statement. – February 28, 2020.