KUALA LUMPUR – Barisan Nasional’s (BN) chances of returning to Putrajaya after the next general election will hinge on the coalition cooperating with other like-minded rival parties, said Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
Taking a different tune to most top Umno leaders who prefer that BN goes solo, the Pengerang MP said the coalition must be open to taking a “new approach” of either adopting a pre-election or post-election coalition agreement.
This is especially crucial if the party is to have any chance of securing the much sought-after two-thirds majority, which would require victories in at least 148 of the 222 parliamentary seats, she added.
“Although they may be regarded as our enemy, if we want to win 148, we must be ready to negotiate with parties that share common ground,” she said during a forum in conjunction with the BN convention today.
“If we want to offer reforms, we need to make amendments to the law (through Parliament) to implement these policies.
“But if we go into the general election with the mindset of ‘only BN’ and we are not flexible, I feel we won’t be able to govern the country once again, just like previously,” she said, possibly referring to BN’s historic defeat at the hands of Pakatan Harapan in 2018.
However, Azalina, who is a special adviser to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, stopped short of suggesting which parties BN should be cooperating with.
Earlier in the forum, Azalina said if BN was to enter the general election in its current state, the coalition is only likely to win between 90 and 100 seats, insufficient to form a majority government.
To acquire the two-thirds majority, she pointed out that BN would require around 50 additional seats.
Talks of cooperation among rival parties have been mooted by several political outfits and leaders recently, with PKR’s top guns and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin among those said to be open to the idea. – The Vibes, June 1, 2022
