Mahathir said he was prepared to accept someone else as prime minister, including his party president Muhyiddin Yassin. “If everybody chooses him, I am OK.”

He also underlined his wish for a non-partisan government, saying the prime minister was entitled to choose members of his cabinet.

“He can choose any member that will not be tied to any particular party. All the parties will have some representative in the cabinet,” he said.

He said on Wednesday it appeared he still had the support of parties from both sides of the political divide and would aim to form a non-partisan government – but without the corruption tainted United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which has been in opposition since the coalition dethroned it in elections two years ago.

Mahathir, Anwar, the king: who’s who in Malaysia’s political shake-up?

But the PH coalition subsequently threw its support behind Anwar for the top job, claiming that a Mahathir-led non-partisan government would betray the mandate of the people as it would give him unchecked decision-making power for ministerial appointments.

Or he could, on the advice of the interim prime minister, dissolve parliament and trigger an election.

Sultan Abdullah spent Tuesday and Wednesday meeting MPs one by one to hear their views on who they wanted to lead government or whether the nation should head to fresh polls.

Resorting to a floor vote would involve lobbying between component parties over the next few days, said political scientist Awang Azman Awang Pawi of the Institute of Malay Studies.

“There will be new teams of cooperation, trying to fit into a bigger bloc to make sure they get the power or that their candidate will win as prime minister,” he said.

The king will reportedly meet with the nation’s other sultans – all of whom administer their own state – in the Conference of Rulers where they will discuss a resolution.

If so, the country would head for an election just 21 months after the landmark polls that saw the on-off rivals join forces, on the promise that Mahathir would eventually pass on the mantle to the 72-year-old Anwar.

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Currently, no faction has obtained the 112-member majority required to definitively say it has the support of most MPs.

In a statement, the Pakatan Harapan coalition (without Bersatu), criticised Mahathir for announcing the parliamentary session, saying it preceded the king’s authority and was “challenging the rights and powers” of the king. “We all know that His Majesty the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong is scheduled to meet the Conference of Rulers to discuss this matter. Pakatan Harapan urges all parties to respect the discretion and authority of His Majesty the King in this matter,” it said.

Meanwhile, at a press conference today, Umno said it was preparing for snap polls, and maintained that it prayed for Mahathir’s health.

Elsewhere, the southernmost state of Johor – the birthplace of Umno which fell to Pakatan Harapan in 2018 – saw a change in its state government earlier Thursday headed by a new coalition government of Bersatu, Umno, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and several smaller Umno-linked components.

Umno on Tuesday said while it supported Mahathir it would not back him if it meant sharing a government with Pakatan Harapan component party the Democratic Action Party, which counts the country’s wealthy ethnic Chinese minority as its major vote bank. But the DAP has now thrown its support behind Anwar.

The Bersatu party, of which Mahathir briefly stepped down as chairman before retracting his resignation on Thursday, is believed to have been in league with Umno, as well as a small now-sacked faction of Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR) who wanted Mahathir to serve a full five-year term instead of handing over to Anwar mid term as had been promised.

This group was thought to have triggered a political coup over the weekend to form a back-door government.

Meanwhile, an economic stimulus package aimed at combating the economic impact of the coronavirus was announced on Thursday. The government said it would dedicate 20 billion ringgit (US$4.8 billion) to support businesses affected by the virus, particularly in the tourism industry. The country may issue bonds for funding if necessary, said Mahathir. Mahathir said the government now expected the economy to grow between 3.2 per cent and 4.2 per cent this year, down from an earlier forecast of 4.8 per cent. It was widening its fiscal deficit target to 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product from 3.2 per cent, which already had been raised from an initial target of 3 per cent.