It is impossible to boot out Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak by voting down Budget 2016 as the anti-Najib force did not have enough numbers, said DAP lawmaker Tony Pua.

“Can we defeat the budget? I can tell you all that the chance is next to zero,” said Pua (DAP- PJ Utara).

“No BN lawmaker is willing to take the risk. If we want to succeed, we need 30 or 35 ruling party MPs (to support),” he told a forum at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Hall last night.

He said the BN representatives feared repercussion should the number of defections proved insufficient to topple Najib.

Pua, the DAP national publicity secretary, was responding to a question from the audience on the possibility of ousting Najib by voting down the budget.

Currently, the opposition pact, Pakatan Harapan, comprising PKR, DAP and Amanah, has 72 MPs.

Even if all the 14 PAS lawmakers, together with PSM representative Jeyakumar Devaraj and Independent MP Khalid Ibrahim pledged to defeat the budget, the anti-Najib force would still be short of 24 MPs to reach 112, the magic number for a parliamentary majority.

Still committed

Pua said the opposition was still committed to its goal of pushing a no-confidence vote against Najib and defeating his budget.

However, he is pessimistic that the no-confidence vote would succeed.

“If not successful, we will continue to work hard, lah,” he said to laughter, urging voters to fully back the opposition pact in the next general election.

In a parliamentary democracy, voting down the budget is seen as a no-confidence vote against the prime minister.

Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has filed a motion of no-confidence in the House.

However, Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia urged the opposition pact to submit a list of names of MPs who are against Najib.

Pandikar said this could help him to pressure the government to debate the motion.

Under Parliament's Standing Orders, motions by the government must be debated first, which means that motions filed by the opposition may not see the light of day.