KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today challenged the government to declare as vacant the seats currently occupied by its MPs who have stated their support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and return the mandate to the rakyat.

Muhyiddin, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president, said he is confident that PN will retain said seats with an even larger majority if by-elections are held.

"This Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) government is desperate or scared. They know that their position is not that strong. At the same time, the people have also lost confidence in them.

"Because of that, they are trying to weaken PN’s position by offering various rewards to our people’s representatives to support the prime minister. I want to tell the prime minister. Do whatever you want. That will not change the negative perception that the people have of the government led by you who failed to govern the country well.

"On the other hand, I believe that action will backfire on the PH-BN government. The people know your ploy. The people know your evil intentions. People hate your actions. If you dare, declare six parliamentary seats and one Selangor state assembly seat vacant. We return the mandate to the people and let the people do the maths. I don’t want to brag, but I am confident, God willing, PN will win by even more if by-elections are held,” he said during his opening speech at the PN MPs and Assemblymen Convention 2024.

All seven rogue PN representatives were absent from today’s convention as they were not invited.

Speaking to the press after the opening ceremony, Bersatu information chief Datuk Razali Idris said the seven are considered "dead” by the coalition.

"We consider the seven representative seats ‘dead’. We want to wait for the election date. They are traitors. Why should we want to invite them?” he asked.

Since last year, a total of six Bersatu federal lawmakers switched their allegiance and declared support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

They are Labuan MP Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman, Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang), Zahari Kechik (Jeli), Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang), Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar) and Datuk Zulkafperi Hanafi (Tanjong Karang).

To prevent more members from crossing the aisle in the future, Bersatu on March 2 amended the party’s constitution.

The decision was made in an extraordinary general meeting, where party representatives unanimously supported the motion to amend Article 10 of the Bersatu constitution.

The article stipulates matters related to the resignation and dismissal of party members.

On Wednesday, Bersatu’s Selat Klang assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rashid declared his support for Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.