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JOHOR BAHRU: Umno is not pushing for an early general election, but only when the Covid-19 pandemic has decreased to a low number of cases, Umno Vice President Mahdzir Khalid said today.
He said the well-being of the people in the face of the pandemic and flooding in some states was the priority and should be resolved first, rather than the general election.
He said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had earlier indicated that general elections should take place early, after taking into account the margin between the government and the opposition as shown by the 2021 federal budget vote.
“But with the Covid-19 situation currently at a critical level, we (Umno) ask that the next general elections be held when the infection cases have reached a low level; we are not insisting that the elections be held now, ”he told reporters here.
“Currently, Johor and Pahang, and to some extent Terengganu and Kelantan, are experiencing flooding,” he said.
“Let’s speak rationally, it is not for politics that we say we want to hold the general elections (soon). People are watching the behavior of politicians. So let’s look at the Covid-19 situation and any disasters first, and first we need to solve the problems people are facing, then we just go to the polls. “
Mahdzir, who is president of Tenaga Nasional Bhd, said this after visiting the main Senibong submarine cable substation in Permas Jaya today.
Umno politicians have been lobbying the PPBM-led Perikatan Nasional coalition and have threatened to topple the PN government by withdrawing parliamentary support.
The coalition has a small majority in Dewan Rakyat. Yesterday, a secondary deputy from Umno announced that he was withdrawing support for Muhyiddin as prime minister. Muhyiddin, president of PPBM, is the head of the PN coalition whose control of power is based on the support of the Umno deputies.
Prior to this, Umno’s chief of information, Shahril Hamdan, had said that party divisional meetings had urged general elections to be held before the end of the first quarter of this year to obtain a new mandate from the people.
In response to the political maneuvers, it has been requested that priority be given to efforts to control the Covid-19 outbreak and the current flood situation.
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