This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 22, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno did not make any attempt to induce Pakatan Harapan candidates to switch sides on the night of the 14th general election, said former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“There was no instruction given to lure election candidates from Pakatan, but I am not sure whether other parties made such an attempt,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby. “That night, I didn’t make any such instruction,” Najib said.

In an interview with regional magazine Mekong Review recently, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there were attempts at political manoeuvring, resulting in  “difficulties from within” the coalition to take over Putrajaya and the delay in the announcement of Pakatan’s victory in the election.

Separately, PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said he was not aware of the difficulties in the transition of power on May 9 as mentioned by Dr Mahathir.

“The decision made was a consensus to appoint Tun Dr Mahathir as the prime minister and that process went well. For PKR, we have always stressed, even in our congress last week, that we uphold the decision to support Dr Mahathir as the prime minister and his policies and programmes.

“That is our stand. Our position is crystal clear; we wanted him to lead the campaign and the country. And thank God we won, so we will give him the support to ensure the administration of the country is smooth and stable,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.