COMMENT | No one wants a snap election

COMMENT | At every parliamentary sitting, many would refer to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s wafer-thin two-seat majority in mockery. He has been called the “weakest prime minister in history”, and Muhyiddin’s own insecurity does not serve as a good defence.

Most of the time, Muhyiddin would shoot himself in the foot by pulling a quick one, like attempting (unsuccessfully) to declare an emergency. Or to publicly seek appeasement from the revolting Umno class.

Muhyiddin’s inner insecurity, combined with ill-advised confidantes, has been inviting to the anti-Muhyiddin camp in Umno. They would take any opportunity they can to threaten Muhyiddin, by emphasising the looseness of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Umno’s non-participation, as well as inviting the defiance of party order at the parliamentary vote.

This is highly unusual in Malaysian democratic practice, and it symbolises the division and fragmentation of partisan politics.

But my claim has always been that Muhyiddin’s position is “oddly stable” against a snap election call because it is in nobody’s interest to call one now.

Pakatan Harapan cannot afford a snap election

This might seem like a red herring at first, but I must call out the elephant in the room. The entity that would pray the hardest against a snap election is actually the opposition coalition, Harapan.

The primary reason is that it will...