Dr M has Pakatan’s full support to be chairman, Azmin says

(MMO) – Offering his congratulations, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said today former prime minister and nemesis Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has Pakatan Harapan’s full backing to be its chairman.

Azmin, who is also Selangor mentri besar, sought to dispel the view that there may internal unhappiness at Dr Mahathir’s appointment to the high post.

“I hope this development will end speculation about unity and harmony within Pakatan Harapan in facing the elections and fulfilling the people’s aspirations,” he said in a statement.

Azmin also pledged his commitment to Dr Mahathir to help the federal Opposition coalition realise its goal of obtaining federal power.

At a late night news conference yesterday, the 92-year-old Dr Mahathir was announced as the four-party pact’s chairman, while Azmin’s party leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was named its president, and her jailed husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim Pakatan’s de facto leader.

Despite the announcements, Pakatan is yet to determine its prime minister-designate should it obtain federal power in the next elections.

Some voices within the pact have pushed for Dr Mahathir to be named the prime-minister-designate, though PKR has been insistent that the post is for Anwar who will be released from his five-year jail sentence for sodomy next year.