Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak appears to be facing an intensified challenge from within his own party and may not survive his full term, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang says.

This follows Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz’s statement yesterday that he would ensure that Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would become Najib’s successor .

This, Lim ( photo ) said, seemed to indicate that the power struggles within Umno have intensified.

“At the present, you have the 300 Umno chieftains - who are mostly supreme council and divisional leaders - who are, by and large, in the pockets of Najib, and the three million Umno members.

“The whole question is: although structurally it would appear difficult to unseat Najib inside Umno, if there are ways and means whereby the Umno members can have their views heard, it is something that the Umno leadership has to take into account,” Lim told reporters when met in Kuala Lumpur today.

As such, he said Najib may not last in office until the 14th general elections, which is due to be called by 2018.

Najib ouster dependent on Umno politics

On the opposition’s own bid to ouster Najib through a no-confidence vote or by voting down Najib’s budget proposal in the Dewan Rakyat, Lim conceded that these are unlikely to succeed.

He said BN parliamentarians are unlikely to cross over and join the opposition’s move, because they realise that the opposition do not have the numbers necessary to succeed.

“At this stage, it doesn’t appear that there would be any BN or Umno MP who are likely to cross the floor to support such no-confidence motion.

“So what exactly would happen would depend on what’s happening inside the internal dynamics of Umno politics, and that is why the statement by Nazri is quite significant,” he said.

To a question whether Pakatan Harapan would support Zahid as prime minister, Lim said he does not want to name anyone.

Instead, he said what is important is that the alleged abuses of power and disregard for the principles of rule of law under Najib’s leadership do not continue.

Najib is currently embroiled in the 1MDB scandal and had been accused of attempting to cover it up by transferring key investigators to other posts and removing his critics from the cabinet.

The prime minister has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the scandal.