A petition calling on the new Pakatan Harapan government to reject party hoppers has gathered almost 9,000 signatures.

The petition initiated two days ago on change.org stated that accepting party hoppers was undemocratic.

"We as voters feel that this party-jumping culture is undemocratic, and betraying the mandate we have given to the parties that contested in the general election.

"We want a Harapan that is more democratic and wouldn’t betray our mandate just for the sake of acquiring a bigger majority in Parliament.

"We believe that Harapan can only be a strong government if we have a solid opposition in the parliament, to ensure check and balance in Malaysia.

"We Malaysians have chosen Harapan, not BN2.0," an excerpt from the petition read.

The petition was in response to BN assemblypersons jumping ship to Harapan after the election, as well as talks between Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Sarawak governor Taib Mahmud.

The meeting between Mahathir and Taib had triggered concerns that the Sarawak BN component parties would join Harapan, a move that has been decried by Sarawak Harapan.

Party hopping had also led to BN's downfall in Sabah after four Umno and two Upko assemblypersons lent their support to Warisan president Shafie Apdal to be chief minister.

Similarly, in Perak, two Umno assemblypersons had backed Harapan state chief Ahmad Faizal Azumu to become menteri besar.