Malaysian Parliament Speaker Muhammad Arif has accepted a request made by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to vote to withdraw confidence from the current Prime Minister, Mohiuddin Yassin.
Aref said in a statement today that he accepted Mahathir’s request, which states that Yassin does not enjoy the confidence of the majority of parliament members.
Aref did not clarify whether the vote to withdraw confidence will take place with the opening of the next parliamentary session on the eighteenth of this month or at another date.
The Malaysian government had approved a one-day parliament session due to the Corona pandemic in which the king would deliver the opening speech of the new session.
On the other hand, the Speaker of Parliament rejected a request made by the President of the State of Sabah to grant confidence to Mahathir, to be Prime Minister until the end of the current parliament.
He rejected a proposal to return Mahathir
In the same statement, Aref also rejected a separate proposal for Mahathir to return as prime minister until the current parliament is dissolved.
He reiterated that he would not allow the submission of a proposal sought by Semporna’s deputy and Prime Minister of Sabah Muhammad Shafi’a Fadl to determine that Dr. Mahathir had the confidence of Parliament.
Muhammad Aref said that the proposal is contrary to Article 43 of the Federal Constitution, and objects to the King's authority over the issue of appointing the Prime Minister.
Observers of the vote of confidence in Parliament are considered the first political challenge facing the Yassin government, knowing that the constitution does not require the government to obtain the confidence of Parliament, and it is sufficient for the king to choose whom he trusts by obtaining the confidence of the majority of the members of the Council.
At the end of February, the King of Malaysia had appointed former Minister of Interior Muhyiddin Yassin to form a new government in the country to succeed the resigned Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Political turmoil
An official statement of the National Palace described the appointment of Muhyiddin as prime minister as the best solution to the political turmoil the country experienced at the time.
The announcement marked the end of the 94-year-old Mahathir's rule, which some consider the founding father of modern Malaysia, and greatly reduced opportunities for power transfer to Anwar Ibrahim, who was to succeed him.
Mahathir returned to power in 2018 15 years after he left it following the victory of the "Charter of Hope" coalition made up of a number of his former opponents, including Anwar, who was his right arm, before turning into his worst enemy in the nineties.
Mahathir - who ruled the country between 1981 and 2003 - had pledged under that alliance to transfer power the next two years to Anwar, and the latter was granted a royal pardon immediately, and was released after he was imprisoned, but his supporters confirmed that the ruling was issued on political grounds.