The decision was reached by the coalition’s presidents’ council, which unanimously accepted PPBM’s application to become a member.

The council also agreed on having the coalition officially registered.

“The Pakatan Harapan secretariat will convey a letter to PPBM to inform them on the matter,” said a joint statement by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.

“The meeting agreed to have immediate discussions among all four parties to come up with a collective manifesto and create a new logo,” it said.

On March 14, PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that the party’s members had unanimously agreed to form an alliance with Pakatan.

Under the proposal, all three Pakatan parties and PPBM would use a common logo and manifesto and avoid clashing with each other.

PPBM was formed only in August last year after Umno expelled its members Muhyiddin Yassin, who was its deputy president and deputy prime minister, and Mukhriz Mahathir, a former Kedah mentri besar, on June 24.

Muhyiddin is now PPBM president and Mukhriz, who is Mahathir’s son, is deputy president.

Pakatan Harapan was formed on Sept 22, 2015 to replace the main opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) which was terminated by DAP in June following a row with fellow PR component PAS.

PKR and DAP later decided to form the new coalition with Amanah which came into being through a takeover and rebranding of the Malaysian Workers Party on Sept 16, 2015. Amanah is helmed mainly by former PAS leaders disillusioned with PAS’ leadership under president Abdul Hadi Awang.