Perak palace: No party has simple majority to form government
(MMO) – No party in Perak has sufficient majority to form a government right now, palace official Datuk Seri Mohd Annuar Zaini said this afternoon.
Annuar who is a member of the Dewan Negara Perak — the Advisory Council to the Perak Ruler — said none of the leaders of the political parties summoned for an audience with Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah today were able to convince the Ruler that they commanded the majority in the state legislature.
“Since no one was able to convince the Sultan that they have simple majority, we will wait until they ready to be able to convince Sultan on the matter,” he told reporters when met outside the Istana Kinta here.
The support of 30 assemblymen is required to secure a simple majority in the Perak legislature.
At the moment, Umno has 25 seats, Bersatu five seats, PAS three seats, DAP 16 seats, Amanah five, PKR three, Gerakan and Independent one each.
Annuar said the Sultan had an audience with three representatives from Perak Pakatan Harapan (PH) at 3.15pm and was informed about a “negotiation” on their side.
He added that the Sultan next had an audience with Perak Umno chief Datuk Saarani Mohamad, who also said there were negotiations ongoing among several parties.
Annuar also said Saarani had requested to be accompanied by Pangkor assemblyman Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir, who is a former Perak mentri besar, and was allowed to do so.
The palace official confirmed the Sultan had an audience Titi Serong assemblyman Hasnul Zulkarnain Abd Munaim, who is from Bersatu.
“I did not know in capacity he came, but he had an audience with Sultan today,” Annuar said.
He was responding to news reports of Hasnul being sighted at the palace earlier in the day. National news agency Bernama cited Hasnul saying he was summoned in his personal capacity and that he was not representing Bersatu, which he joined on June 3. Prior to that, he was briefly an independent after leaving Amanah on March 9.
Sultan Nazrin had summoned all the Bersatu and PAS assemblymen after granting an audience with Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi this morning.
The five Bersatu assemblymen are: Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu (Chenderiang); Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharudin (Sungai Manik); Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi (Tualang Sekah); Datuk Abdul Yunus Jamhari (Kuala Kurau); and Hasnul Zulkarnain Abd Munaim (Titi Serong).
PAS has three assemblymen in Perak: Razman Zakaria (Gunung Semanggol); Mohd Akmal Kamaruddin (Selama); and Khalil Yahaya (Kubu Gajah).
However, PAS’ representatives did not turn up. Bernama cited Razman saying the central PAS leadership ordered its Perak lawmakers to cancel the audience.
In a brief statement this evening, Perak Bersatu chairman Ahmad Faizal clarified that his party had not received an official summons with Sultan Nazrin.
“The party also wants to stress that we did not request any audience with the Sultan for now over the appointment of mentri besar,” he added.
Ahmad Faizal was forced to resign as mentri besar after losing a confidence vote 48-10 in the 59-seat Perak state assembly last Friday. The last was a spoilt vote.
