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Harapan moots interim PM, while Anwar in jail
Published:  Sep 28, 2016 12:35 PM
Updated: 5:47 AM

Pakatan Harapan has mooted the appointment of an interim prime minister, if the opposition wins the next general election, pending PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim's release from jail.

"Harapan's candidate for prime minister is Anwar Ibrahim.

"If he is unable to take the post because he is in jail, we can have an interim prime minister," Harapan secretariat chief Saifuddin Abdullah said on Facebook.

This comes after Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's pro-tem chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Bersatu pro-tem president Muhyiddin Yassin will be PM if the opposition wins.

However, this would depend on whether Bersatu elects Muhyiddin as president and whether "the coalition" agrees, Mahathir said at a lecture in London last week.

Saifuddin said that in Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan was barred from becoming prime minister after his party won the election in 2002, because he was banned from holding political office.

Abdullah Gul ran for office on Erdogan's behalf and became interim PM until his government removed the ban on Erdogan in 2003.

"However, today, it is better for us to focus on the formation of a grand opposition coalition first," Saifuddin said.

According to Muhyiddin, the grand coalition will be formed by the year's end.

Muhyiddin and Mahathir's son and former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir formed Bersatu, after they were sacked from Umno for criticism against party president Najib Abdul Razak.

Former Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal, who resigned from Umno after he was suspended over the 1MDB criticism, has submitted an application to take over a Sabah party, and turn it into an anti-BN party aligned to the opposition front.

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