Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 1): The opposition lost its third bloc vote in Parliament today when the plantations industries and commodities ministry's allocation in Budget 2021 was passed with 108 votes for and 95 votes against.

The opposition had forced a bloc vote for the ministry’s allocation when 15 MPs stood up in support of the motion.

However, the government emerged with more votes than the opposition, with 17 MPs absent during voting.

This is the third bloc vote the opposition has lost, after Perikatan Nasional scored two victories for allocations under the Prime Minister's Department (PMD) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) yesterday.

The PMD has an allocation of RM11.7 billion while the MoF has been allocated RM21 billion.

Earlier in the day, budget allocations for two other ministries were passed through voice vote in the Dewan Rakyat, namely the national unity and foreign affairs ministries' budget allocations.

The plantation and commodities ministry’s allocation for Budget 2021 is RM729.39 million, the national unity ministry's is RM423.28 million while the foreign affairs ministry's is RM777.91 million.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had previously claimed that he had the numbers to form a majority in the house; however, his opposition Pakatan Harapan pact has not been able to win a bloc vote so far.

Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), which is aligned with the opposition, has not participated in any bloc votes as it is reportedly against Anwar’s leadership and is using the abstention to call for a new opposition leader.

The house will scrutinise 22 ministries’ budget allocations and vote on them before the budget is tabled for the third and final reading, where it has to be passed in the Dewan Rakyat before going to the Dewan Negara.

Thus far, Perikatan Nasional has won all five votes for ministry budget allocations.

The last voting round will be on Dec 15.

For more Parliament stories, click here.

Edited ByLam Jian Wyn
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