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KUALA LUMPUR – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday (September 26) that he will not participate in the general elections if they are held in 2023, as he would then be 98 years old.
He was quoted by the Bernama news agency in Langkawi as saying that he would be willing to offer advice to a new party he is organizing, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air.
But the 95-year-old statesman did not indicate whether he would run to the polls if it were done soon.
The next general elections will be held in 2023, but there is much talk that they could be held in the coming months.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government has a slim majority in parliament of 222 seats, and on Wednesday, opposition head Anwar Ibrahim said he has enough MPs behind him to form a new government and claimed that the Muhyiddin government will has “collapsed.”
Hours later, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, chairman of Umno, a party allied with Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional, said that “many” of his party’s lawmakers support Datuk Seri Anwar.
Tun Dr Mahathir’s Pejuang party has five MPs, including himself. You have submitted an application to register the match.
When asked by journalists from his Langkawi constituency whether it was necessary to dissolve Parliament for general elections to take place after the latest political development, Dr. Mahathir said the Covid-19 pandemic situation posed a threat to the plan.
“I am sure that if the general elections are held now, many people will be affected by Covid-19, many will die,” Bernama said. “The question is whether we give priority to politics or the lives of the people.”
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