KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 ― Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob arrived at Istana Negara in a chartered bus at 1.16pm.

Barisan Nasional’s sole candidate to be the next prime minister was with Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin, Kota Tinggi MP Datuk Seri Halimah Sadique, Paya Besar MP Mohd Shahar Abdullah, Kuala Krau MP Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said, Baling MP Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Rahim and several others

Istana Negara summoned 114 federal lawmakers from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition to have an audience with the King to reconfirm their support for the BN candidate.

After less than two hours of the audience, Ismail accompanied by police outriders left the palace at 3.13pm and he waved to press members waiting outside as he passed.

A total of 114 MPs from Umno, Bersatu, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), 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 Ismail Sabri, 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.