Next state election could coincide with federal polls amid growing signs both could be held soon
Combo photo shows Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg (left) and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
KUCHING: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) held a special closed-door meeting at its headquarters (HQ) here yesterday amid speculation that the Sarawak state polls will be held soon.
Furthermore, it comes just after Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and party chiefs in PBB-led Gabung Parti Sarawak (GPS) had voiced support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at a meeting with the Prime Minister in Putrajaya on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s meeting has set tongues wagging that the 12th Sarawak state election is imminent.
Abang Johari, who is also PBB president, arrived at the PBB HQ at 10.45 am and is believed to have chaired the meeting that was scheduled to start at 11 am.
Also seen entering the building were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, both of whom are deputy presidents of the party, and other PBB supreme council members.
Among them are Senior Minister (Infrastructure) and Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
Besides them, several Sarawak cabinet ministers were also seen entering the building, among them Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Children’s Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah and Assistant Minister for Ports and Infrastructure, Datuk Julaihi Narawi.
The 11th Sarawak state election was held on May 7, 2016 and the 12th has to be held by July 2021.
However, based on previous records, the state usually holds its elections a year early.
In the 11th state election, the four component parties in Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) won 72 seats between them out of the 82 at stake,
However, following BN’s defeat in the 14th general election in May 2018, the four – PBB; Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak (SUPP); Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Parti Demokratik Progresif (PDP) exited BN on June 12, 2018 and formed GPS. —Bernama
Tan Sri Muhyiddin might be forced to call for snap polls if Parliament sitting disrupted by vote of no confidence
KUCHING: The decision to call for a snap general election could be made in the next Parliament sitting, says Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
Wan Junaidi believed that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin might opt to call for snap polls if proceedings in the sitting were disrupted by objections and debates.
“So, if there are disruptions in the upcoming Parliament this time, then what choice does Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has?
“If you keep on disturbing (the Parliament sitting) by calling for vote of no confidence (against the Prime Minister) and those kinds of things, and Tan Sri Muhyiddin cannot handle it anymore because it’s disruptive, then he has no other choice because you push him to the corner,” Wan Junaidi told thesundaypost.
Speculations had been rife that a snap general election could be called anytime, as Muhyddin only has ‘a razor-thin majority’ in the Parliament since Perikatan Nasional (PN) took over Putrajaya earlier this year.
Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had submitted a motion of no-confidence vote against Muhyiddin in the next Parliament sitting, scheduled to run from July 13 to Aug 27.
Adding on Wan Junaidi, who is Santubong MP, said there would be many Bills to be tabled in the upcoming Parliament session, including those related to Covid-19 and preparing the country for any other disease outbreaks in the future.
On Muhyiddin, Wan Junaidi stressed that the state’s ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is strongly behind him and the present federal government.