Perikatan Nasional

Since the morning of 23 February 2020, a faction from Parti Keadilan Rakyat led by its deputy president Azmin Ali who also served as Minister of Economic Affairs, PPBM's supreme council, Muafakat Nasional of Malaysian Islamic Party-United Malays National Organisation pact retreat, UMNO's own supreme council, and GPS's member of the parliament; all held separate meetings in various locations.[4] These meetings, particularly that of BERSATU and Azmin Ali's faction led to rumours that the formation of a new governing coalition was being undertaken.[5] Later in the evening, an entourage of party leaders including Azmin, PPBM president and then-Minister of Home Affairs Muhiyiddin, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, PAS president Hadi Awang, GPS chairman Abang Johari Openg and Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal arrived at the Istana Negara to seek an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong[6] It was rumoured that the leaders were there to brief the Agong about the formation of a new coalition government and to declare their support for a new prime minister, effectively blocking PKR's president Anwar Ibrahim from the position.[7][8] Once the meeting had concluded, several opposition party leaders, including UMNO's Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PAS's Hadi Awang then joined Azmin's supporters at Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya.[9] The purpose of the gathering was later revealed to be a dinner event called "Majlis Makan Malam Muafakat Ahli Parlimen" celebrating the achievement of a "consensus" among MPs, of which 131 were in attendance, from both the government and opposition.[10][11] This sparked controversy as people began to wonder of the purpose and meaning of the event, causing a split in the Pakatan Harapan coalition. The events that day were dubbed the "Sheraton Move",[12] and it was known as one of the longest Sundays in Malaysian politics.[13]

It was later confirmed by former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mohd. Najib Abdul Razak, that he, as well as MPs from the UMNO, signed statutory declarations in support of the then-Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad lead an alliance called Perikatan Nasional; however, their agreement was conditional.[14]

On the following day, Azmin Ali and PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin were sacked from the party, as announced by secretary general, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail that afternoon,[15] as several other members of the party announced their departure from the party in solidarity with the two.[16] Following this, Mahathir announced his resignation from his position as Prime Minister,[17] and BERSATU President, Muhyiddin Yassin, announced that the party would officially leave the Pakatan Harapan coalition.[18] This caused the coalition to lose its majority in the Dewan Rakyat, marking the downfall of the almost 2 year old Pakatan Harapan government.[19]

The royal palace announced that the Agong had accepted Mahathir's resignation and appointed him as interim Prime Minister in order to oversee the country's administration until the formation of a new government.[20][21]

Having other plans in mind, Mahathir decided to call for all MPs to unite under a non-partisan unity government, where all parties in parliament would take part in the government.[22] This was rejected by almost every other party as they refused to be in the same government as their rivals, most notably Muafakat Nasional (UMNO and PAS) and the DAP. Muafakat Nasional called for the dissolution of the parliament and snap elections, stating that the only solution was by letting the people choose the government.[23]

To resolve the issue, the Agong summoned every member of the Dewan Rakyat for an audience so that he may interview each of them personally so as to determine who had the support of the majority of parliament to form a new government as Prime Minister. This is because Article 43 (2) (a) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall need to appoint the Prime Minister from among the members of the Dewan Rakyat, who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the parliament. However, none of them gained the majority support of the parliament, that is at least 112 members, since Barisan Nasional and Gagasan Sejahtera voted for the dissolution of the parliament, while Pakatan Harapan and BERSATU named Anwar Ibrahim and Mahathir respectively.

On the afternoon of 28 February, PPBM secretary-general Datuk Marzuki Yahaya announced that all of its 36 MPs have decided on nominating party president Muhyiddin for the position of Prime Minister instead of Mahathir.[24] However, a number of BERSATU MPs later denied that they had nominated Muhiyiddin and were still supporting Mahathir. In the evening, both Barisan Nasional and Muafakat Nasional also announced their support for Muhiyiddin to succeed Mahathir as the next Prime Minister.[25] This was soon followed by claims made by political analysts in Sabah and Sarawak that local parties such as GBS, GPS, and Warisan intended to support Muhiyiddin as Prime Minister, securing him a majority in parliament.[26]

On the evening of the 29 February 2020, the Agong announced that Muhyiddin had gained majority support and was appointed as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was sworn in the following day at Istana Negara.

On 17 May 2020, the leaders of PPBM, Barisan Nasional, PAS, GPS, PBS, and STAR issued a joint statement saying that all their 111 MPs support formalising the Perikatan Nasional alliance which was previously an ad hoc agreement. The parties' leaders also announced that they had been working on a memorandum of understanding to facilitate cooperation within the PN alliance. Key provisions of the MOU include upholding the Malaysian Constitution, the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers, the principles of Rukun Negara, and ensuring the welfare and interest of Malaysians of all religions and race.[2][3] The Registrar of Societies (RoS) confirmed on 14 September 2020 that Perikatan Nasional was registered on 7 August 2020 as Parti Perikatan Nasional (lit. Perikatan Nasional Party) [27]

Perikatan Nasional and its supporting parties have 50 MPs in the Dewan Rakyat as shown below.

State	No.	Constituency	Member	Party
Kedah	P011	Pendang	Awang Hashim		PAS
	P012	Jerai	Sabri Azit		PAS
	P013	Sik	Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman		PAS
Kelantan	P019	Tumpat	Che Abdullah Mat Nawi		PAS
	P020	Pengkalan Chepa	Ahmad Marzuk Shaary		PAS
	P021	Kota Bharu	Takiyuddin Hassan		PAS
	P022	Pasir Mas	Ahmad Fadhli Shaari		PAS
	P023	Rantau Panjang	Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff		PAS
	P024	Kubang Kerian	Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man		PAS
	P025	Bachok	Nik Mohamed Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz		PAS
	P027	Tanah Merah	Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz		BERSATU
	P028	Pasir Puteh	Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh		PAS
	P030	Jeli	Mustapa Mohamed		BERSATU
	P031	Kuala Krai	Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman		PAS
Terengganu	P034	Setiu	Shaharizukirnain Abd. Kadir		PAS
	P035	Kuala Nerus	Mohd. Khairuddin Aman Razali		PAS
	P036	Kuala Terengganu	Ahmad Amzad Mohamed Hashim		PAS
	P037	Marang	Abdul Hadi Awang		PAS
	P038	Hulu Terengganu	Rosol Wahid		BERSATU
	P039	Dungun	Wan Hassan Mohd. Ramli		PAS
	P040	Kemaman	Che Alias Hamid		PAS
Penang	P042	Tasek Gelugor	Shabudin Yahaya		BERSATU
	P047	Nibong Tebal	Mansor Othman		BERSATU
Perak	P056	Larut	Hamzah Zainudin		BERSATU
	P058	Bagan Serai	Noor Azmi Ghazali		BERSATU
	P059	Bukit Gantang	Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Fasal		BERSATU
	P063	Tambun	Ahmad Faizal Azumu		BERSATU
Pahang	P082	Indera Mahkota	Saifuddin Abdullah		BERSATU
Selangor	P092	Sabak Bernam	Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh		BERSATU
	P093	Sungai Besar	Muslimin Yahaya		BERSATU
	P098	Gombak	Azmin Ali		BERSATU
	P099	Ampang	Zuraida Kamaruddin		BERSATU
Kuala Lumpur	P119	Titiwangsa	Rina Mohd. Harun		BERSATU
	P124	Bandar Tun Razak	Kamaruddin Jaffar		BERSATU
Negeri Sembilan	P129	Kuala Pilah	Eddin Syazlee Shith		BERSATU
Malacca	P134	Masjid Tanah	Mas Ermieyati Samsudin		BERSATU
	P135	Alor Gajah	Mohd. Redzuan Md. Yusof		BERSATU
Johor	P140	Segamat	Edmund Santhara Kumar Ramanaidu		BERSATU
	P143	Pagoh	Muhyiddin Yassin		BERSATU
	P150	Batu Pahat	Mohd Rashid Hasnon		BERSATU
	P154	Mersing	Abdul Latiff Ahmad		BERSATU
Sabah	P167	Kudat	Abdul Rahim Bakri		BERSATU
	P177	Beaufort	Azizah Mohd Dun		BERSATU
	P178	Sipitang	Yamani Hafez Musa		BERSATU
	P179	Ranau	Jonathan Yasin		BERSATU
	P180	Keningau	Jeffrey Kitingan		STAR
	P183	Beluran	Ronald Kiandee		BERSATU
	P184	Libaran	Zakaria Edris		BERSATU
Sarawak	P198	Puncak Borneo	Willie Mongin		BERSATU
	P205	Saratok	Ali Biju		BERSATU
Total	Perlis (0), Kedah (3), Kelantan (11), Terengganu (7), Penang (2), Perak (4), Pahang (1), Selangor (4), F.T. Kuala Lumpur (2), F.T. Putrajaya (0), Negeri Sembilan (1), Malacca (2), Johor (4), Sabah (7), Sarawak (2)