Tun M Reveals The Real Reason Why Pakatan Harapan Took So Long To Announce Its GE14 Win
The coalition had known that it won the 14th General Election by 8.30pm on the night of 9 May.
In a recent interview with regional magazine Mekong Review, Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad spilled tea on the real reason why Malaysians had to wait for so long before a new government was announced
"We knew we had won by 8.30pm (on 9 May), but we didn't get the official announcement until about 2am," the Prime Minister was quoted as saying by Mekong Review.
Image via Free Malaysia Today
"During that short period of time, there was a lot of maneuvering, which was not visible to the people," Mahathir added.
The Prime Minister added that the coalition had learnt more about what really happened on the night of 9 May later on.
According to Mahathir, there was an attempt to persuade newly-elected Malay-Muslim Members of Parliament (MP) in Pakatan Harapan to switch sides on the night of GE14
"If they could be persuaded to cross over to the side of UMNO and PAS, these people would have the majority to form the government," Mahathir said, according to Mekong Review.
The Prime Minister claimed that it was what caused the delay in Pakatan Harapan's election victory announcement.
Image via Malay Mail
Mahathir also alleged that the Pakatan Harapan government was feared to not respect Islam's position as much as the Barisan Nasional administration did
"There was an idea that if the Muslims all came together, they could drag other Muslims (from our coalition), have the majority and form a Malay-Muslim government, but they were advised against that," the Prime Minister claimed.
Nonetheless, Mahathir refused to name the people behind the act.
The Prime Minister had previously accused the EC of delaying announcements of official results
"It is late now. We should know by now who is winning and losing. There's an attempt to delay the results by not signing (official forms)," Mahathir was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today on 9 May.
He added that the EC is tasked with the duty to sign off on official declaration of the results in each constituency.
Nevertheless, Mahathir was sworn in again as Malaysia's Prime Minister on the night of 10 May 2018, more than 12 hours after his ceremony was cancelled last minute without any reason
On top of the delay of the swearing-in ceremony, Malaysia had to hold its breath for almost a day as the Election Commission (EC) only announced Pakatan Harapan's GE14 victory at 4.55am on 10 May.
You can read Mahathir's interview with Mekong Review in full here.
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