The Registrar of Societies has deregistered Perikatan Nasional after finding the coalition's reply to its show-cause order unsatisfactory.

The deregistration follows a complaint filed by estranged PN party Bersatu that it was not invited to a coalition supreme council meeting on July 16.

"After examining the entirety of the documents and explanations submitted, the ROS found that the reasons provided failed to refute the grounds for deregistration as stated in the notice, nor did they provide strong justification to maintain the registration of the organisation," the department said in a statement today.

The move came two weeks before the Malacca state election, meaning that PN won't be able to use their logo in the polls.

It also comes just two days before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur was set to hear PN's application to stay the deregistration order, pending a judicial review.

Previously, the courts had rejected an interim stay application.

The ROS had issued PN a show-cause letter on Sept 22.

PN had previously accused Bersatu of trying to cripple the coalition. It has also accused the ROS of issuing the deregistration notice in bad faith (mala fide) to apply political pressure.

Its claim that politics may be involved is also not far-fetched. In early 2023, the ROS had wanted to deregister Umno for blocking contests for the party president and deputy president posts.

However, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail saved Umno - a critical component of the then fledgling Madani government - by using his ministerial discretion to exempt the party from compliance.

Bersatu, which PN has sidelined since PAS took over the coalition and began courting Umno, is now exploring a partnership with Pakatan Harapan, with a confidence-and-supply agreement between the two in Selangor close to being finalised.