‘Not necessary for Pakatan Harapan to name candidate’
KUALA LUMPUR: After almost a month proclaiming her father’s eligibility as the “7th prime minister”, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar appeared to have made an about-turn by saying it is unnecessary for the opposition pact to name its prime ministerial candidate.
Nurul Izzah’s move also went contrary to PKR’s stance made during its national congress last month, where jailed party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was the Pakatan Harapan alliance’s prime minister-designate if it won the 14th General Election (GE14).
In a Facebook posting yesterday, Nurul Izzah said her father was correct to state that any power struggle must be put aside to focus on winning the general election.
“What makes anyone think that it (Pakatan Harapan) must officially name a PM designate or a supreme leader to lead the alliance as a prerequisite to winning GE 14?
“Didn’t Pakatan Rakyat win the majority vote in GE13 without officially naming a supreme leader or a PM-designate?
“Stop talking about PM-designate or supreme leader.
“Sweep aside selfish and parochial interests and focus only on winning GE 14, and success will await us,” she wrote.
Anwar on Saturday issued a statement saying that he would not offer himself as candidate for prime minister so that Pakatan Harapan would focus on the general election.
Last week, PPBM proposed its leaders Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as Pakatan Harapan’s chairman and president respectively, with Anwar as adviser.
The pact has been rocked by a debate on its suitable prime ministerial candidate, particularly after Dr Mahathir expressed his wish to become prime minister again.
In George Town, confusion in Pakatan Harapan continued to reign when DAP secretarygeneral Lim Guan Eng expressed shock over Anwar’s refusal to be the prime minister-designate.
“How can I comment when I don’t know about this? You should ask PKR.
“Our position is still same.
“We support Anwar as the prime minister, but I can’t say anything more than this because we are in the dark,” Lim said after at the end of the i-Sejahtera programme in Seberang Jaya here yesterday.