KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia cancelled the registration of the country's main opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) on Tuesday (Oct 20) amid a dispute between its key parties, dealing a blow to the bloc ahead of elections expected in coming months.
Malaysia's Melaka state is due to hold a vote on Nov 14, in the latest test for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim following defeats in two other regional polls earlier this year. An early general election could also be triggered amid simmering tensions within Anwar's multi-party ruling coalition.
But opposition group PN is facing growing rifts of its own between the conservative Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) - which has the most seats of any single party in Malaysia's 222-member parliament - and the Malay nationalist party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), with both vying for leadership of the coalition.
Bersatu, led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, had filed a complaint to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) alleging that it had been excluded from a PN supreme council meeting in July, describing it as a breach of the coalition's constitution by rival grouping PAS.
RoS said in a Tuesday statement that it had received an unsatisfactory response from PN after warning last month that the bloc could face de-registration.
It said "the reasons given failed to refute the grounds for the cancellation of registration".
PN's dissolution would mean that its component parties, including several other smaller organisations aside from Bersatu and PAS, would not be able to contest the elections under a common banner.
Despite contesting under the PN banner, Bersatu and PAS campaigned in the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state polls separately.
PN secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan, who is also a PAS leader, said on Tuesday that the coalition would file a legal challenge against the de-registration order.
"PN condemns this action as an attempt to ... weaken political opponents ahead of the Melaka election," Takiyuddin said in a statement.
He said the RoS issued its show-cause notice on Sep 22, the day the dissolution of the Melaka state assembly was announced, and suspended PN’s activities the following day, local news outlet Free Malaysia Today reported.
Political parties under the now deregistered coalition have yet to decide which logo to use for the upcoming Melaka state polls, The Star reported Takiyuddinas saying.
Polling for the Melaka state election is scheduled for Nov 14, with nomination day on Oct 31 and early voting on Nov 10.
Anwar leads a government consisting of several blocs, including his own Pakatan Harapan coalition as well as the Barisan Nasional (BN), led by the once-dominant United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party of jailed former premier Najib Razak.
Despite their federal partnership, Pakatan and Barisan remain rivals in some states, with the parties exploring different electoral strategies ahead of the next general election.
BN and PAS have said they are discussing cooperation in the Melaka polls, an arrangement that could test the prospects of a broader electoral alliance, according to local media reports.