The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is expected to hold a meeting on Friday with His Majesty’s fellow rulers to discuss the new prime minister candidates.

According to The Star, a special meeting involving the Malay Rulers will be conducted at Istana Negara at 2.30pm where the king is likely to share the 220 MPs' choice of who should be the next premier.

The meeting is important especially if the numbers are too narrow, given the critical decision the king has to make, the report added.  

Yesterday, the Agong met with all political party leaders, and later instructed the MPs to submit their choice of prime minister by 4pm today, to fill the vacancy left by outgoing prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin who resigned on Monday.

Not a single MP holds a resounding majority in the Dewan Rakyat, but Umno’s Ismail Sabri Yaacob seemed poised to obtain it as BN parliamentarians unanimously agreed to back him as their prime minister candidate last night.

Bersatu, PAS, and GPS are also expected to rally behind Ismail - who had served as deputy to Muhyiddin.

Bera MP Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Meanwhile, Pakatan Harapan president Anwar Ibrahim was also trying to position himself as the next premier. 

He managed to convince Warisan leader Shafie Apdal to support him, but on one condition - the entire opposition bloc will back Shafie if Anwar fails to secure a majority on his first attempt.

With the news of the Malay rulers' meeting, it seems unlikely that a new prime minister will emerge from today’s outcome.

Palace sources told The Star that His Majesty had made the right call to ask all MPs to submit their choice of prime minister directly.

“There have been cases, in the past, where MPs were known to have more than one statutory declaration in their declaration of support.

“The result is that the public no longer has trust in these documents. So, the palace wants to get this done properly,” the English daily quoted a source as saying. 

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