Umno quietly confident of Parliament dissolution next week despite King’s absence
A week of high drama as Umno president Zahid Hamidi’s camp repeatedly pressured Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to dissolve Parliament seemed to fizzle out when Malaysia’s new budget was eventually tabled on Friday.
Now, the King, who has discretion on whether to consent to the Premier’s request for dissolution – is off to London for the week from Sunday night to witness the launching of the Battersea Power Station, developed by a Malaysian consortium.
Battersea is a mixed development comprising apartments, shops, restaurants and offices.
Yet, Umno members remain confident that the parliamentary term will be terminated in a matter of days for snap polls.
Talk of a “post-dated cheque” from Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah is rife among the party faction loyal to Zahid, believing that the King has already told Datuk Seri Ismail that it is up to the Prime Minister when to call elections.
Malaysia’s 15th general election (GE) must be held within 60 days of the parliamentary term ending.
“Budget 2023 was a waste of time,” one party official said on Friday. “Dissolution must happen now because the election has to be next month.”
The clock is ticking as the deadly annual flood season is expected to begin at the end of November, and the Election Commission needs at least three weeks to prepare for polls.
Almost a year ago, floods across the country in December and January killed 54 and caused RM6 billion (S$1.85 billion) in economic damage, with 60,000 evacuees stranded in relief centres at the peak of the flooding.
Umno gave Ismail, who is Umno vice-president, an ultimatum, “call GE or face the consequences”, after his Thursday evening audience with Sultan Abdullah.
Following the audience, informal Umno leadership meetings were held, attended by both Ismail and Zahid.
Several Umno officials, including youth chief Asyraf Dusuki and executive secretary Sumali Reduan, took to social media with cryptic “praise be to God” postings, leading followers to speculate that polls are imminent.
But Ismail has made no promises, and even those in his inner circle are uncertain of his plans.
The timing of the polls is closely watched as the Premier is locked in a staring contest with Zahid, who faces the prospect of being convicted of graft early next year as his defence on 47 charges involving his Akalbudi Foundation is scheduled to end on Nov 10.
A conviction would pave the way for Ismail to wrest leadership of the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, and take control of the crucial selection of election candidates.
Although Umno has publicly stated that Ismail will be its PM candidate for the election, Zahid’s chairmanship of BN means the latter will have an outsized influence on the government should the pact emerge victorious.
Ismail indicated on Saturday that a vote will happen well before September 2023, the absolute final date for the ballot.
He stated that next year’s budget, which is scheduled to be fully approved by Parliament on Nov 23, can only be rolled out if “we ensure BN wins”.
“Then everything announced in Budget 2023 can be implemented,” he said in Jempol, Negeri Sembilan.
But BN’s main rivals, Perikatan Nasional (PN), the largest bloc in the loose and awkward governing coalition, and opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan (PH), have also ratcheted up rhetoric over how irresponsible it would be to force polls when the government should be focusing on mitigating effects of the coming monsoon storms.
All 12 PN ministers wrote to the palace on Monday, insisting that Parliament should not be dissolved this year, until both flooding and the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are resolved.
PH and PN member Parti Islam SeMalaysia have also stated that the three states they each control will not follow suit if federal polls are held. This would mean another costly series of state elections will need to be held by the middle of next year.