Wan Azizah: Anwar will lead Harapan in fresh elections

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim will most likely Pakatan Harapan in the event of fresh polls, said his wife, former deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, she said this will be decided soon.

"I will have a meeting, and I think most probably it’s going to be Anwar," said Wan Azizah.

Given the recent turn of events, Wan Azizah said Harapan will be ready for any circumstances, including the possibility of facing snap elections.

"We’ll have to wait and see how things will unfold.

"Because everything looks to be so uncertain, so insecure, so fragile," Wan Azizah said, adding that she does not have high hopes for the new Perikatan Nasional government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Speculations over Anwar's future as Mahathir's successor mounted in the months leading to Harapan's downfall, with a faction within PKR led by its former deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali - who eventually left and backed the new Perikatan Nasional pact - had gone against the idea of a power handover.

Wan Azizah (above) in the interview said it was the people who "feel they didn’t have enough" that contributed to her coalition’s downfall.

"They felt probably they wanted more. And that I think brought us down," she added.

Asked if she would be open to receiving those who had defected from Harapan, she reportedly said: "Betrayal is quite difficult to accept in any circumstances. Betrayal is still betrayal."

Mahathir had indicated on several occasions that he would fulfill a promise to step down and make way for Anwar by November, while the Port Dickson MP's supporters urged for a May deadline or two years since the last 14th general elections.

With the latest developments, Harapan had indicated that their lawmakers would challenge Muhyiddin's appointment in parliament through a vote of no confidence.