Muhyiddin: With or without Umno, Perikatan to proceed with GE15 seat talks with component parties

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) announced today it will proceed with discussions on seat allocations for the 15th general election (GE15), irrespective of Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno’s stance towards the coalition.

The coalition’s chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the unanimous decision to proceed with seat distribution talks among PN component parties without Umno or BN was necessary as the next general election is expected to be held next year.

“At this moment, we at PN have made a decision because we are unsure of Umno’s direction nor has the BN or Umno leadership issued a clear stance on seat negotiations.

“So if we want to wait for other parties to come to a decision or stand, this will disrupt ongoing election preparations as arranged by PN.

“No matter what the other parties are trying to do or what they want to decide later that is their own decision, but as far as we are concerned, we make our own decision to proceed by finalising the distribution of seats among PN only,” he told reporters after chairing the PN supreme council meeting here.

Muhyiddin also affirmed that discussions will only be held amongst PN component parties comprising Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, PAS and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia for seats — both federal and state — in the peninsula.

When asked when seat distribution negotiations between PN component parties would be held, Muhyiddin replied, “Very soon”.

“I don’t want to harp on this issue because people might interpret it as me talking more politics than business now.

“The fact is we have no indication if Umno really wants to cooperate with us even though the reality is we are in government together.

“As I said, it does not matter whether they want to move. We, as PN parties, make our own decision on what we feel is important for us to decide,” he added.

Umno withdrew its support for Muhyiddin’s PN government last month, leading to the government’s collapse and Muhyiddin’s resignation as prime minister.

Last year, Umno announced it will not join the PN coalition but instead focus on developing the Muafakat Nasional (MN) partnership with PAS and the rest of BN.