PERIKATAN Nasional will start talks among coalition parties on seat allocations for the next general election, chairman Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

He said the pact was not interested in Umno’s position and would start planning for the next polls regardless.

“PN has decided to move forward and will discuss the seat allocation next week as there has been no indication from Umno,” he said after chairing a PN meeting at Publika in Kuala Lumpur.

The Bersatu chairman added seats in peninsular Malaysia would be divided among Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan while discussions would be made soon on seat sharing in Sarawak and Sabah.

In Sarawak, PN is allied with the Gabungan Parti Sarawak coalition, while in Sabah, Bersatu and Umno share power.

Muhyiddin said PN was not interested in what other parties were planning to do for the next election.

He added that PN wanted to be ready to face the general election, which he said may take place next year.

“We expect the general election to be held maybe next year… if we want to wait for other parties to make a decision, it will disrupt the preparations for the general election that PN wants to arrange,” he said.

While Umno is part of the government with PN, it has an uneasy relationship with the main party in the pact, Bersatu.

Umno’s withdrawal of support for Muhyiddin prompted his resignation and replacement by Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Earlier today, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi hinted that the Muafakat Nasional (MN) pact between Umno and PAS is also dead.

He was asked in an interview how he expected MN to fare at the next general election, he grinned and retorted: “does the MN still exist?”

Since the signing of the MN agreement on September 14, 2019, political co-operation between the partners has stalled with the Islamist PAS leaning more towards its PN pact with Bersatu.

The Umno president said it was better for the party “to go solo” under the Barisan Nasional flag in the next general election. – September 30, 2021.