KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Constitution does not stipulate that “confidence of the majority” must be without conditions, Datuk Marzuki Mohamad who is principal private secretary to the caretaker prime minister told critics who claim that the support given by Perikatan Nasional (PN) to the prime minister candidate was not legitimate as there were conditions attached.
“I don’t understand why some quarters would say that PN’s support for Ismail Sabri is not valid. I went through Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution to look for (the clause) with the words ‘unconditional majority support’ and couldn’t find such a word.
“As such, we should not make things up that are not in the Constitution.
“The support for Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob by PN was legitimate and in accordance with Article 43(2)(a) of the Constitution,” Marzuki said in a Facebook post.
He said the conditional support set by PN for the Umno deputy president was not something extraordinary, especially when it involved appointments of Cabinet members who have integrity, are trustworthy and free from criminal court charges.
The Constitution states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint, who in his judgement, a prime minister among the MPs who is likely to command the confidence of the majority of representatives.
