PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim delayed the decision by Pakatan Harapan on its prime minister candidate – which was supposed to have been settled at the coalition’s meeting last night.

Sources told The Malaysian Insight the jailed opposition leader wanted PH to get feedback from civil society groups and activists on the candidate before making the announcement.

A majority of officials in the meeting were adamant that the decision and announcement on the PM candidate be made soon, said sources.

Another criterion before naming the PM candidate was that the opposition coalition settle all issues related to seat negotiations. 

PH now has 48 hours to settle seat negotiations before the PH convention on Sunday where the candidates will be announced.

The presidential council, which comprises top officials from DAP, PKR, Amanah and Bersatu, told the media last night that its candidate for PM will be announced this weekend in Shah Alam.

All these conditions were expressed by Anwar through a letter delivered by PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali to the council as it started its deliberations yesterday.

“In the letter, Anwar said even though PH was made up of four parties, its strength came from the people’s voice.

“According to Anwar, PH has to continue its tradition of consulting civil society groups and activists before naming the prime minister,” the source told The Malaysian Insight on the condition of anonymity.

When the council started its meeting at 5.09pm, PKR sent out a statement from Anwar that was similar to the letter delivered by Azmin.

Azmin then left the meeting early.

According to the source, PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad initially wanted to excuse himself from the meeting as the discussion focused on him as one of the PM candidates.

“But the majority wanted Dr Mahathir to remain so he can listen to the discussion.

“What was obvious in the meeting was that Bersatu, Amanah and DAP had made up their minds that Dr Mahathir should be prime minister and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, his deputy.

“They wanted these names announced as soon as possible but PKR still wants to delay this,” said the source.

After the three-hour meeting, Dr Mahathir said the candidate will only be announced during the PH convention on Sunday.

Senior PKR leaders were absent from the press conference except its vice-president, Dr Xavier Jeyakumar.

Dr Mahathir and other PH leaders have stressed that PH must announce a candidate for prime minister before the 14th general election.

At a retreat last year, coalition members proposed Dr Mahathir and Dr Wan Azizah as prime minister and deputy prime minister if PH wins GE14.

The proposal, however, was not announced as PKR still wanted to discuss the matter at the party level although Bersatu, DAP and Amanah had no objections to the candidates.

48-hour deadline

Another source at the meeting yesterday told The Malaysian Insight that discussions on seat allocation must be completed before the PM candidate is announced.

“After the seat discussion, then we can announce the PM candidate. PKR still wants the biggest seat allocation, slightly more than two-thirds of all seats.

“The committee comprising all four parties will negotiate on the seats until it’s settled,” said the source.

The source is optimistic that the issue will be resolved before Sunday, as there are not many over-lapping claims among the four parties.

“The overlapping claims only affect 10 seats.”

The Malaysian Insight reported last week that PKR has set three conditions before it would agree to Dr Mahathir as the PM candidate.

One of these is that PKR gets to contest 60 out of 165 parliamentary seats in the peninsula.

The other conditions are that Anwar be freed and appointed as prime minister within a period of six to 12 months if PH wins GE14.

The third condition is that Dr Mahathir has to agree to reform the country’s institutions. – January 5, 2018.