GE15: Pakatan should be given the chance to form the government, says Syahredzan

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan should be given the chance to form a government first, says Syahredzan Johan.

The lawyer - who won the Bangi seat for the coalition in the 15th General Election (GE15) - said Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should not have claimed that his coalition would form the federal government.

He said this is because Pakatan had won the most seats although it did not garner a majority in Parliament.

"According to convention, Pakatan should be given the chance to form the government first.

"Pakatan is the biggest bloc compared to other blocs while Perikatan is second," he said in a Twitter post on Sunday (Nov 20).

The Election Commission (EC) has announced that no single coalition or party has garnered over 50% of the 220 parliamentary seats contested in the GE15.

Pakatan and its allies polled the highest number of seats with 82, but still fell short of the 112 magic number needed to form the simple majority in Parliament.

Perikatan came in second at 73 seats followed by Barisan Nasional at 30.

Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) snapped up 22 seats, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) had six seats while Parti Warisan Sabah won three.

Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) won a single seat and so did the Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM).

Two independent candidates also won.

There are a total of 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat but only 220 seats were up for grabs in GE15 as elections for the Padang Serai seat in Kedah and Baram in Sarawak had been postponed.

Polling for the Padang Serai will be held on Dec 7 as Pakatan candidate M. Karupaiya passed away on Wednesday (Nov 16).

Polling for the Baram seat in Sarawak was suspended due to floods on Saturday (Nov 19), which prevented EC personnel from reaching 11 polling stations.