PETALING JAYA: The Pakatan Harapan presidential council has called upon all MPs who are against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to support Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the prime ministerial candidate.

       The council, made up by PKR president Anwar, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, called upon the MPs to immediately go to the negotiating table to unite and form a new majority in Parliament.

       Reiterating its stance in supporting Anwar as the prime ministerial candidate, the council said they also disagreed on holding any general elections amid the heightened Covid-19 pandemic before the current 14th Parliament's term ends on July 16, 2023.

       "Therefore, the presidential council invites all MPs who are against Muhyiddin to unite and support Anwar as the prime ministerial candidate to form a new majority in Parliament.

       "For the future of the people and the country, all parties that are against Muhyiddin must go to the negotiating table now to form an inclusive, fair and progressive government whereby each party is treated fairly.

       "Therefore, it is important for all parties to unite under a government that can right all the wrongs and failures of the Perikatan Nasional government when the time comes for the confidence vote towards the Prime Minister is tabled in Parliament soon.

       "This is so that any takeover of the government will only happen amongst parties that have agreed upon principles such as institutional reforms, good governance and independent judiciary," said the council in a statement on Friday (Aug 13).

       The council said it made the call as the rakyat had been hoping that the political crisis would be put to an end as soon as possible and a capable leadership emerge to manage the Covid-19 pandemic and drive economic recovery.

       The council said that although it had been known that only 100 MPs supported Muhyiddin as the prime minister and another 120 were against him, Muhyiddin refused to concede defeat and tender his resignation.

       "At a time when active Covid-19 cases are over 200,000 daily and over 1,000 patients are in intensive care, and every day, we witness hundreds of deaths due to Covid-19 coupled with unemployment and loss of income issues plaguing the rakyat, we are in dire need of a stable and effective government led by a prime minister who has the legitimacy and majority support of the MPs," they said.