Annuar explains 'Muhyiddin for GE15' comment amid internal pushback
Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa today clarified that his statement about supporting Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister is for the present, but he could not say if the general election were to be held several years down the road.
Annuar maintained that there was no contradiction amid pushback from several senior Umno leaders who insisted that an Umno leader should become the prime ministerial candidate if the party could win the most seats in the next general election.
Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa today clarified that his statement about supporting Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister is for the present, but he could not say if the general election were to be held several years down the road.
Annuar maintained that there was no contradiction amid pushback from several senior Umno leaders who insisted that an Umno leader should become the prime ministerial candidate if the party could win the most seats in the next general election.
"We did not discuss the (prime ministerial) candidate. We discussed support for the prime minister. They are two different things," he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.
Annuar, who was on July 2 quoted by Berita Harian as saying that Umno and PAS have agreed in principle to support Muhyiddin as the prime ministerial candidate, said he was merely conveying what was discussed between Umno and PAS in a Muafakat Nasional meeting.
"I can confirm that the issue of the prime minister position was discussed, we support the PN government and the prime minister.
"But politics is dynamic. Our present position is we support the prime minister. If there is a snap election, we stand with the prime minister.
"But if the election is held in four or five years, if it is far down the road, I cannot answer for that as it is too far away," he said.
The 15th general election is due in 2023 if there is no snap election.
"For the time being, we stand with the prime minister.
"We are forming close cooperation between Umno and PAS and also between Umno and Bersatu.
"PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan and I have been given the mandate to sit down and discuss (with Bersatu)," he said.
Annuar said he agreed with Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who called on his party to stop engaging in debate over who should be PN's prime ministerial candidate in the 15th general election.
"We want to create political stability," he said.
On a separate matter, Annuar said it is Pakatan Harapan's prerogative not to call for snap polls in states that it controls if PN does so at the federal level.
"If they decide not to dissolve the state assemblies, that is not wrong... they can do so because the Federal Constitution allows you to do that.
"The position taken by Harapan is their right," he said.
He was responding to the Harapan presidential council which yesterday announced that states governed by the coalition won't go for snap polls and intend to serve the full term until 2023.
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