KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi both dangled a deputy prime minister’s spot for the Borneo states today in return for their support in the 15th general election.
According to Malaysia Dateline, PKR president Anwar said Pakatan Harapan could propose appointing two deputy prime ministers in the event the coalition won GE15.
“There exists a suggestion for us to name two DPMs if we win, one from the peninsula and another from Sabah and Sarawak,” he was quoted as saying.
PH has already named Anwar as its choice to be prime minister in the event the coalition wins its second general election in a row.
Separately, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi went one better by claiming Barisan Nasional could name as many as three DPMs were it to regain full control of Putrajaya.
However, he asserted that one from Sabah would be certain if the coalition won GE15 on November 19.
“There is nothing wrong with having three deputy prime ministers as the position itself is not mentioned in the Federal Constitution,” he was quoted as saying by the Free Malaysia Today portal.
Anwar was in Kota Kinabalu while Zahid was in Kimanis today.
While Malaysia had always had a deputy prime minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin broke with tradition after seizing control of the government unelected in 2020 and eschewed one in order to maintain a fragile alliance with BN at the time.
After succeeding the ousted Muhyiddin, caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob also did not name a DPM from a similarly loose coalition holding the government together.
