KUALA LUMPUR:Having a Perikatan Nasional presidential council would mean UMNO would be privy to information as party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is currently not part of the Cabinet.

UMNO secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said UMNO agrees with the proposal to form a PN presidential council as a platform to discuss government policies and strengthen inter-party cooperation.

He said UMNO had proposed the setting up of the council as it would play an important role in deciding government policies.

“The proposal to set up a presidential council was, in fact, a suggestion by UMNO. I was asked to represent the president (Ahmad Zahid) in a meeting with the Prime Minister about a month back and I had suggested this,” he told Bernama when met in Parliament today.

PN secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said today that the PN Supreme Council meeting yesterday had decided to set up the presidential council that would comprise all PN leaders.

On the Gerik parliamentary and Bugaya state seat by-elections, Ahmad suggested that an emergency be declared for the latter, like in the case of Batu Sapi, while the by-election in Gerik could go ahead subject to the COVID-19 situation.

He said since Gerik was (currently) a COVID-19 green zone, the by-election can still be held with strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place and without door-to-door campaigning.

The Election Commisson has set the by-election for the two seats to be held simultaneously on Jan 16, next year, while nomination day was fixed for Jan 4 and early voting on Jan 12.

-- BERNAMA