Malaysia faced a suspended parliament for the first time in its history as support for the conservative Islamic alliance prevented major coalitions from winning an absolute majority in an election. general election.
Political uncertainty may also persist without a clear winner Malaysia It faces slowing economic growth and rising inflation. He has had three prime ministers over the years.
The failure of the main parties to obtain a majority means that a combination of these must form a majority alliance to form the government. Malaysia’s constitutional monarch may also be involved, as he has the power to appoint as Prime Minister a lawmaker he believes can rule the majority.
Longtime opposition leader Anwar IbrahimThe coalition won the most seats in Saturday’s general election, according to results from the Election Commission.
The biggest surprise came from former prime minister Muhyiddin Yasin, who led the Perikatan Nasional bloc to a strong demonstration with support from the traditional strongholds of the incumbent government.
Muhyiddin’s alliance includes a Malay-based conservative party and an Islamist party that promotes sharia or Islamic law. Race and religion are divisive issues in Malaysia, where the Muslim ethnic-Malay population is the majority and ethnic Chinese and Indians make up a minority.
Both Anwar and Muhyiddin claimed to have support to form the government, although they did not disclose which parties they ally with.
Muhyiddin said he hopes to finish the talks by Sunday afternoon. His alliance is a junior partner in the ruling coalition of incumbent Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and could work with them again.
Anwar said he would present a letter to Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah detailing his support.
If Anwar clinches the highest position, it completes a remarkable journey for a politician who, in 25 years, goes from crown prince to prime minister to the country’s leading opposition figure from a convicted gay sex convict.
Since 2015, Malaysian politics has been overshadowed by the 1MDB corruption scandal, in which billions of taxpayers’ money was embezzled abroad. He overthrew former prime minister Najib Razak, who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.
Three prime ministers have ruled the Southeast Asian country since a fiery election on corruption with record turnout four years ago.
Malaysia has 222 parliamentary seats, but only 220 were polled on Saturday.
The Election Commission said Anwar’s multiethnic Pakatan Harapan coalition won a total of 82 seats, while Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional alliance won 73 seats. Ismail’s Peace coalition received 30 votes. As of 2100 GMT, a seat has not been announced.
“The most important takeaway from this election is that Perikatan has successfully disrupted the two-party system,” said Adib Zalkapli, director of the political consultancy Bower Group Asia.
Barisan and Pakatan have long been the main blocks of Malaysia.
Barışan said that he accepted the people’s decision but avoided admitting defeat. The coalition said in a statement that it remains committed to forming a stable government.
Senior leader Mahathir Mohamad meanwhile, he received his first election defeat after 53 years in a blow that could end his seven-decade political career and lost his seat to Muhyiddin’s alliance.
A record number of Malaysians voted on Saturday, hoping to end a series of political uncertainties that have resulted in three prime ministers amid uncertain economic times and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The political landscape has been turbulent since Barış lost the 2018 elections after staying in power after 60 years of independence.
Anwar made his name as a student activist in various Muslim youth groups in Kuala Lumpur in the late 1960s, when the country was reeling from the protracted Communist insurgency of the Malayan Emergency.
Arrested in 1974 at student protests against rural poverty, Anwar was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Despite his fiery reputation, he later confounded liberal supporters by joining the conservative United Malays National Organization (UMNO) led by Mahathir in 1982.
The released politician was the heir to then-prime minister Mahathir until 1998, when he was sacked and accused of corruption and sodomy. The following year, he was found guilty in a verdict that led to mass street demonstrations.
Sodomi’s conviction was overturned, but the corruption ruling was never lifted, preventing her from running for political office until ten years later.
In 2008, when the ban on political participation was lifted, he was hit with more sodomy charges.
After an appeal against his acquittal of these charges, he was convicted again in 2015 and jailed. When the conviction was upheld, human rights groups were highly critical, saying it was politically motivated – a claim the government denied.
Amid public anger at the government over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal, Anwar was released from prison in 2018, teaming up with his old nemesis Mahathir and Muhyiddin to defeat Barisan for the first time in Malaysian history.
This coalition collapsed after 22 months in power due to internal strife over Mahathir’s promise to hand over the prime ministership to Anwar. Muhyiddin briefly became prime minister, but his rule collapsed last year, paving the way for Ismail and Barisan at the helm to come back to power.
