KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that he did not want to call snap state elections in Negeri Sembilan but his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition was left with “no choice” due to the actions of its erstwhile allies in the Barisan Nasional (BN) pact. He was referring to how 14 state assemblymen of UMNO – a BN lynchpin party – had pulled their support for Negeri Sembilan chief minister Aminuddin Harun, only to backtrack later.“This is ‘wayang kulit’ (political theatre),” said Anwar when launching the Negeri Sembilan PH election campaign in Seremban on Friday night, as quoted by news outlet Free Malaysia Today (FMT).“We are forced to have an election so that the people can make the choice,” he added.
PH and BN are partners in the federal government. The two pacts also controlled the Negeri Sembilan state assembly, but ties on the ground have been strained since the move by the 14 UMNO assemblymen on Apr 27 to withdraw their support for Aminuddin over his handling of a crisis involving the state monarchy.The state assembly was then dissolved on Jun 5, and the snap polls set for Aug 1, more than two years before they are due in November 2028.“To be frank, I never wanted a snap state election as we have a lot of work to do,” news outlet The Star quoted Anwar as saying.“However, we had to call for snap polls as we were left with no other option.”
