With nobody dominant, Dr Mahathir predicts no single party can form stable govt on its own after GE15
KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — Not a single political party would be able to form a stable government on its own after the next general election as there are too many contesting parties but none of them are dominant, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has suggested.
Speaking to Utusan Malaysia’s Sunday edition Mingguan Malaysia, the Parti Pejuang Tanah Air chairman predicted that every contesting political party will merely win a small number of seats and thus whoever wins the most seats will just form a minority government.
Under such circumstances, Dr Mahathir said such a minority government will not last long and the winning party will seek out “friends” to form a coalition to strengthen the government that has been formed.
“I think this GE15 will not be able to solve problems [on the current political turmoil]. We find that many parties are contesting, all small parties. None dominant.
“But a minority government doesn’t last, they have to find ‘friends’. When they seek out friends, they will find other winning parties to form what we call a loose coalition,” he reportedly said.
Dr Mahathir explained that post-election coalitions are not the same as coalitions such as Barisan Nasional where every component party has remained within since its inception, since post-election coalitions are susceptible to “bargaining” by other parties.
“The government position is not stable because any party that resigns, [the government] falls. So that is what will happen in GE15,” he said.
He also pointed out that both Umno and his old party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia are not as strong as they were before due to factionalism in the former and lack of majority for the latter.
“Even if Umno does hold a party election, they will not be welcomed by the people as long as the old leadership is involved with the ‘court cluster’ which currently heads the party.
“Same as Bersatu, I expect that the party will be defeated in the election because it lacks a majority,” he said in reference to Umno leaders facing criminal charges such as Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
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