ISMAIL Sabri Yaakob said he is still the poster boy and prime minister candidate for Barisan Nasional (BN) for the 15th general election.

The Bera candidate said his selection as prime minister candidate had been clearly decided at the Umno General Assembly last year and by the Umno Supreme Council that met in April.

“So far there has been no decision from the council saying otherwise and recently more than 156 out of 190 Umno divisions passed a motion to support me as the prime minister candidate.

“The matter has not been reversed and there was no meeting (within the party) that decided otherwise, therefore the earlier decision still stands,” he said.

Ismail said this at a press conference after submitting his nomination papers for the Bera parliamentary seat, which took place at the Bera District Council Convention Hall. 

The Umno vice-president also denied rumours regarding a statutory declaration (SD) to nominate another prime minister candidate allegedly signed by all Umno candidates, which went viral recently.

Ismail said the SD was signed to prevent the candidates from jumping parties in line with the Constitution (Amendment) Act (No.3) 2022, which came into force on October 5.

“No, I don’t think so because we sign an SD to not hop from party to another every time there is an election,” he said.

“In the past, the SD was akin to a resignation letter for our position as a Dewan Rakyat or state legislative assembly member if we jumped to another party. But now since there is an anti-party hopping act, the SD is based on that law,” he said.

Asked about the speculation on a pact between Umno president Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to form a government after the general election, Ismail said:

“I’m not sure… we didn’t hear about it. There are all sorts of speculation.” – Bernama, November 5, 2022.