No special parliamentary sitting to pick new PM: Malaysia's national palace

Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah will continue to find a way to solve the current political situation within the constitution, the national palace said Friday, adding that a special parliamentary session to pick a new prime minister will not be held.

Abdullah was not convinced on whether any prospective candidate of prime minister had the confidence of a majority of the country's 222-seat lower house of Parliament, Comptroller of the Royal Household for the National Palace Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said in a statement.

The statement said that Abdullah concurred with the decision by the house speaker Mohamad Ariff Bin Md Yusof that a special parliamentary session to pick the new prime minister on Monday previously announced by interim Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad would not take place.

Mahathir said on Thursday that the King believed there was no prospective prime minister candidate who commanded a majority among the members of parliaments, and a special parliamentary session would be held to who will become the new prime minister.

Shortly after the statement by the Palace, Mahathir's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) announced that Party President and former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin would be presented as the party's choice to be candidate for the prime minister.

Separately, Pakatan Harapan (PH) which had been Malaysia's ruling party till Mahathir's resignation as prime minister on Monday, said its head Anwar Ibrahim is commanding the most support in the Parliament and would seek an audience with the King.