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Barisan Nasional (BN) will wait for the 15th General Election (GE15) results to decide if it wants to work with others to form the new government, said caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob
According to the UMNO vice president, it’s still too early for BN — which has MCA, MIC, and PBRS as members — to look for political cooperation with parties outside its fold.
“We will wait for the results of GE15, after that we will decide. We will have to make sure we hit our initial target to win. If we make an assumption too early (to collaborate with parties outside BN), we do not know what will happen in the election later,” Ismail Sabri was reported as saying by Kosmo! today, 18 October.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the caretaker Prime Minister emphasised that any decision to join hands with other parties will only be made by taking into account what is best for the country.
Initially, UMNO had offered to work with PAS — which is currently a coalition member of Perikatan Nasional (PN) — to work together in the GE15 under the now-defunct Muafakat Nasional (MN) cooperation.
The offer, however, did not materialise as PAS claimed that UMNO is corrupt.
BN is aiming to win at least 112 out of 222 seats to ensure that it can form a government with a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat
BN deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who is also the UMNO deputy president, said that BN must garner more than 112 seats in the Dewan Rakyat to ensure that the coalition can form a government.
“We want to win and we must get or pass 112 seats to make sure we can form a government in the next election. That’s our target. So if we can win a lot more, it’s better,” New Straits Times quoted him as saying.
For the record, there are 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
A party or coalition has to win 112 seats to command a simple majority, whereas a two-thirds majority is 148. However, if the seat share among two parties/coalition is 111 each, it results in a hung parliament.
Photo of BN deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan at the opening of the Rembau UMNO division meeting on 16 October.
Image via New Straits Times