KUALA LUMPUR (March 4): The government will retable the proposed bill to limit the prime minister's tenure to 10 years at the next Dewan Rakyat sitting scheduled for June.

“The bill will be tabled as it was in the previous session,” government spokesperson Datuk Fahmi Fadzil, who is also the communications minister, told reporters after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Efforts are being made to ensure full support from government MPs and their presence in the House to secure the bill’s passage, he said.

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026, which seeks to amend Article 43 to require a prime minister to step down after 10 years in office, failed to pass in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday.

The bill garnered only 146 votes in favour — two short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution. A total of 44 MPs abstained, while 32 were absent, including six government lawmakers and two independents aligned with the government.

Fahmi said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who also serves as government chief whip, had briefed the Cabinet on the eight MPs who were absent when the bill was voted on.

“Only two of them have submitted written explanations to the chief whip,” he said. “We are still awaiting the remaining six.”

On whether action will be taken against the eight MPs, Fahmi said it would be up to the prime minister to decide. He reiterated that the bill is a critical reform to ensure that whoever holds the premiership does not feel they can act unchecked or remain in power indefinitely.

Fahmi also called on the opposition to treat the bill as a non-partisan issue and work together to secure its approval.

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