He said based on several analyses and indicators, PN could wrest control of the federal government in GE16.

“But if PN delays in making important decisions such as who its next chairman will be, this 16th general election will be PN’s to lose,” he said in a column published in Sinar Harian.

The former federal minister nevertheless acknowledged the complications in finding a successor to a party founder or bigwig.

Saifuddin drew parallels between PN’s delay in appointing a new chairman following Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation to the last US polls which saw Donald Trump elected as the president for the second time.

He said Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race months before the presidential election had allowed Trump to win.

“Trump did not win the contest as much as the Democrats chose to lose it,” he said.

Muhyiddin stepped down as PN chairman effective Jan 1, following the political crisis in Perlis which saw PAS’s Sanglang assemblyman Shukri Ramli resigning as menteri besar and Bersatu’s Kuala Perlis assemblyman Abu Bakar Hamzah replacing him in the post.

PAS has since expressed interest in taking over the reins with several names being floated, including the party’s deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.