UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has defended his call for an early general election (GE15), saying that the latest salvo that Barisan Nasional (BN) is power hungry is aimed at creating a bad perception of the coalition.
The Bagan Datuk MP said the accusation by the coalition’s “enemies” is “far from the truth” about the real purpose of an election, which he said means handling back the right and mandate to the people to elect a new government.
“General, local or state elections are a democratic process through the ballot box that can be participated by any political party or eligible individual,” he said in a Facebook post.
“GE15 is hardly a ‘ceremony’ that hands over the power of the country’s administration to BN without contest. Rather, it is a voting process [for the people to decide who should run the country].
“Therefore, how is BN even power-hungry when GE15 returns the full mandate to the people to determine the future of the country?”
Power-hungry Opposition
Zahid went on to criticise Pakatan Harapan (PH) for not dissolving the legislative assemblies in the states it controls.
The coalition’s refusal to hand over the right and mandate to the people to elect new state governments was due to its fear of not being able to stay in power, he added.
In Zahid’s Facebook post, he also attached a screenshot of a news report in which DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said UMNO was to blame for the states under PH’s control for not dissolving their legislative assemblies in line with the dissolution of Parliament yesterday (Oct 10).
Last week, the PH presidential council confirmed that three states under PH rule – Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Penang – will serve out their full terms.
On this matter, Zahid said the Opposition is willing to waste money by holding state elections separately because they were “afraid of losing power”.
“If BN is as power-hungry as the Opposition, BN could choose not to allow the states it governs to dissolve their legislative assemblies. However, this is not the purpose of BN’s politics,” he stressed.
“The flood concern excuse is no longer relevant as the Election Commission could decide for GE15 to be held before mid-November. Therefore, the people need to reject the power-hungry coalition that clearly does not care about their future and that of the country.” – Oct 11, 2022
Main photo credit: The Star
