Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob waving at his supporters at the nomination centre in Bera today. – Bernama photo
BERA (Nov 5): “I am still the poster boy and prime minister candidate for Barisan Nasional (BN) after GE15 (15th General Election),” said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Prime Minister said his selection as the candidate for the prime minister position was clearly decided at the 2021 Umno General Assembly and the decision of the Umno Supreme Council (MT) that met in April.
“So far there has been no decision from Umno MT saying otherwise and recently more than 156 out of 190 Umno divisions passed a motion to support me as the prime minister candidate.
“The matter (the decision to nominate him as prime minister candidate) has not been reversed and there was no meeting (within the party) that decided otherwise, therefore the earlier decision still stands,” he said.
Ismail Sabri said this at a press conference after attending the candidate nomination process for the Bera parliamentary seat that took place at the Bera District Council Convention Hall, here today.
The Umno vice president also denied rumours regarding a statutory declaration (SD) to nominate another prime minister candidate allegedly signed by all Umno candidates that went viral on social media recently.
Ismail Sabri said the SD was signed to prevent the candidates from jumping parties in line with the Constitution (Amendment) Act (No.3) 2022 which came into force on Oct 5.
“No, I don’t think so because we sign an SD to not jump party every time there is an election,” he said.
“In the past, the SD was akin to a resignation letter for our position as a Dewan Rakyat or state legislative assembly member if we jumped to another party. But now since there is an anti-hopping act, the SD is based on that act,” he said.
Asked about the speculation on a pact between Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to form a government after GE15, Ismail Sabri said:
“I’m not sure… we didn’t hear about it… there are all sorts of speculation.” – Bernama