KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 ― Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) lawmakers including Jeli MP Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Sri Gading MP Datuk Shahruddin Md Salleh arrived at Istana Negara to reconfirm their support for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) sole candidate for prime minister.

The chartered bus went through the palace gate at 12.47pm.

Bersatu currently holds 31 parliamentary seats and the party’s president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently resigned from the premiership position.

A total of 114 MPs from PAS, MIC, MCA, as well as those who are independent have been summoned for an audience with the King so they can personally verify their support for Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, one of the two main contenders for prime ministership.

The other candidate is Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The MPs had been instructed to write their personal choices for prime minister and submit them to the palace before 4pm yesterday.

The session ended with Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan asserting that Ismail Sabri has the majority support to be the prime minister.

Ahmad said there were no discussions about other posts aside from the PM.

"There was no talk of Cabinet or other things, only focused on the statutory declarations towards Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob,” he said.

Yesterday, Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Indera Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin reminded all 220 MPs to submit their statutory declarations on their personal choice for prime minister to Istana Negara before 4pm on the same day the statement was issued.

In the same statement, Istana Negara highlighted that Yang di-Pertuan Agong is expected to chair a special meeting of the Conference of Rulers tomorrow over current national issues.