Gerakan Youth has called on the Election Commission (EC) to make it compulsory for political coalitions to name their designated prime minister.

Its chief Tan Keng Liang said this in a statement today after noting that the opposition parties have differences in the choice of their prime minister candidate.

At the PKR convention concluded last weekend, Pakatan Harapan leaders held up placards naming jailed leader Anwar Ibrahim as the candidate for the 7th prime minister.

"However, at the event, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad and president Muhyiddin Yassin did not hold up the placards to indicate support for the idea," Tan said. 

"Subsequent to that, several Pakatan Harapan leaders including DAP’s Zaid Ibrahim and Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq had questioned the move to make Anwar as Pakatan Harapan’s designated prime minister.

”As was correctly pointed out by Amanah’s deputy president Salahuddin Ayub yesterday, this issue could have been easily resolved by holding a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting to decide on the matter. Question is, why has Pakatan Harapan refused to announce their designated prime minister?" he asked.

Tan said naming the designated prime minister is an important and fundamental matter which must be decided by a political coalition before contesting in any general election. 

He also stressed that there is no reason for any political coalition to hide this information from the voters. 

He noted that there was massive public confusion as to who is the prime minister candidate because several names had been mooted, including Bersatu’s Mahathir, Muhyiddin, PKR’s Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Azmin Ali, and even DAP’s Lim Kit Siang.

Tan said the voters have a right to know the opposition's choice of the candidate and this is one of the most important and fundamental information that a voter wants to know before making the right choice for the country.

"We hope that the EC would consider making it compulsory for any political coalition that wants to contest at least two-third of the parliamentary seats, to name their designated prime minister before the upcoming election.

"We urge the EC to take up the task to protect the voters from being hoodwinked by any political coalition. The voters deserve to know such an important and fundamental information in order to make the right choice for Malaysia," he added.