The PKR president, however, said the buck stopped with him when it came to the issue of PH welcoming two former Umno assemblymen into its fold – attributed by some to have contributed to the coalition’s loss in Saturday’s elections.

PH only managed to win five of the 28 seats, leading to Pahang DAP secretary Lee Chin Chen calling for Anwar to step down.

Anwar, however, brushed it off as an “opinion”.

“It is just an opinion, but as I said before, in giving such views, we should not be seen as arrogant,” he told reporters here.

Anwar said one needed to also look at the “facts” and not simply arrive at a conclusion, saying things were not as simple as they were made out to be.

He went on to explain Melaka PH had proposed that the central leadership accept former Melaka chief minister Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan as candidates.

Idris and Nor Azman are two of the four Melaka assemblymen who triggered the election by withdrawing support for Sulaiman Md Ali as chief minister on Oct 4.

While some in the coalition did not agree, Melaka PH was confident the duo were vital in helping the opposition win the elections, Anwar said.

Anwar said that following the dissolution of the state assembly, component leaders agreed to field Idris and Nor Azman as PKR and Amanah candidates respectively in the Nov 20 polls.

“After a series of meetings, we were persuaded,” he said, referring to Amanah and DAP leaders, adding that they too had their reservations.

“So, in a way, I cannot shirk from that responsibility.”

Anwar also revealed he had instructed an independent committee to conduct a post-mortem on the Melaka polls, besides directing the Melaka state leadership to carry out one.