Mahathir’s party won’t back him as Prime Minister; Malaysian king rejects plan for parliament vote to break political impasse

Bersatu said it would support party president Muhyiddin Yassin’s candidacy to be Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister

A statement from the palace said the king would continue to speak to lawmakers about their preferred candidate for the premiership

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Malaysia's interim premier Mahathir Mohamad will not be nominated by his party, Bersatu, to be the eighth PM. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 5:07pm, 28 Feb 2020Updated: 10:39pm, 28 Feb 2020

Interim premier Mahathir Mohamad’s political party said it would not back him as a prime ministerial candidate on Friday, as the country’s king declared he did not have the confidence that any member of parliament had majority support to form a new government.

The palace statement indicated that the political impasse in Malaysia was nowhere closer to being resolved, as Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had decided not to call for a special parliamentary session on Monday to choose a prime minister.

“The palace will continue to engage with leaders of political parties for their lawmakers to voice their preferred candidate for prime minister,” the statement said.

Bersatu, of which Mahathir is chairman, said it would support party president Muhyiddin Yassin’s candidacy to be Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister.

It said this decision was reached at a meeting involving 36 members of parliament. But the party only has 26 MPs including Mahathir so the additional 10 are believed to include members who defected this week from the People’s Justice Party (PKR) headed by Mahathir’s on-off rival Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysia has been mired in a political crisis of unprecedented proportions following 94-year-old Mahathir’s sudden resignation on Monday as the country’s seventh prime minister.