Speaker confirms Danyal’s resignation, notifying EC

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Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof

KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof has confirmed receiving Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah’s letter to resign as the Member of Parliament for Port Dickson.

Mohamad Ariff in a statement said following receipt of the letter, he had officially notified the Election Commission on the vacancy.

“As such, in line with Clause (1) of Article 54 of of the Federal Constitution, the Election Commission must fill the vacancy within 60 days after it determines the actual date of the vacancy,” he said.

Danyal, from PKR, who won the seat in the 14th general election on May 9, in a press conference held at PKR’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya earlier yesterday, announced that he was giving up the seat to pave the way for PKR president-elect Anwar Ibrahim in the latter’s bid to be elected as an MP.

Dubbed the ‘PD Move’, it is to facilitate Anwar succeeding Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Malaysia’s eighth prime minister.

Meanwhile, PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said vacating the Port Dickson Parliamentary seat to make way for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to contest in a by-election is not a betrayal of the people.

He said the move would enable the PKR president-elect to serve as Member of Parliament.

“Betrayal is when we steal the people’s money, when we use our position to enrich ourselves, when we have power, we suppress the people.

“But in a democratic system, the road for us to represent the people in Parliament is through an election, and in this situation, it is done with the specific intention of implementing a consensus,” he said in a special press conference at the PKR headquarters here yesterday. — Bernama