KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has urged political parties to work together against a dire situation the country is facing as he weighed on the candidates of the new prime minister.
The National Palace said in a statement on Wednesday that Sultan Abdullah met with the heads of major political parties on Tuesday after the resignation of former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday after losing majority support in the lower house of the parliament.
The King has also asked each member of parliament (MP) to submit one candidate as prime minister by Wednesday afternoon, according to the statement.
During the meeting with political party leaders, Sultan Abdullah has asked any new prime minister being appointed shall seek a confidence vote in the lower house of parliament as soon as possible to prove the support of the majority.
The new prime minister shall also seek cross-party cooperation to ensure a stable government, the statement said.
"Before concluding the audience, His Majesty reminded the heads and representatives of major parties that to ensure harmony, the MPs who win must reach out to those who did not."
"Everyone should be working as a team. In other words, the winner does not win everything while the loser does not lose everything," it said.
According to Malaysia's constitution, the king, as the country's supreme head of state, appoints a parliament member as the prime minister, whom in his view commands the majority of the MPs.
Among the potential replacement candidates for Muhyiddin is his former deputy, Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Ismail Sabri is a vice president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which is part of Muhyiddin's previous ruling coalition.
But UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been at odds with Muhyiddin, being responsible for the withdrawal of support together with a number of UMNO parliamentarians that saw Muhyiddin lose his slim majority.
Local media reported that Ismail Sabri had secured unanimous support from MPs of UMNO as well as from other component parties in Muhyiddin's previous coalition, which might give him the simple majority to be the new prime minister.
Another prominent candidate is former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who heads the country's opposition bloc. Enditem
