GE15: Zahid must step down honourably – Shahidan

KANGAR - Umno President,Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been urged to step down honourably to make way for Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri to lead the party following BN's heavy defeat in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Arau member of parliament Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the call was to speed up collaboration between Perikatan Nasional (PN), BN and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to form the federal government.

He said a coalition based on the formation of more stable politics needed to happen immediately.

"Tomorrow (Sunday) there is Umno Supreme Working Council (MKT) meeting and the Political Bureau, so I think they should ask Ahmad Zahid to step down honourably.

"Back in 2018, he asked Datuk Seri Najib Razak (then Umno president) to resign when BN lost.

"Najib resigned and this time, MKT should ask Zahid to resign. He is still a member of parliament and he can continue to support the party," he said at the Pas Perlis Complex, here early this morning.

In the GE15 this time, Shahidan won a flattering victory when he defeated the BN candidate, Datuk Rozabil Abdul Rahman and young Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Fathin Amelina Fazlie with a majority of 23,216 votes.

Shahidan said Umno, under the leadership of Ismail Sabri was seen to lead to better results of discussions between PN, BN and GPS.

"I don't want to say much to Zahid, just asking him to give Ismail Sabri the opportunity to take over the leadership of Umno to get a better outcome from the discussion.

"Umno's struggle for the Malays is the same as PN. The other matters can wait. We want to be friends again (with BN), otherwise, it will be difficult for us to form the government," he said.

In other developments, Shahidan described PN's victory in Perlis as a big responsibility that the coalition had to bear with.

"However, I am confident that PN will be a good (state) government. Fresh faces in PN will bring reforms to the administration of the state government," he said.