Campaigning for the upcoming 19th general election to the Malaysian Parliament officially began on Saturday.
The United Malaysian National Party (UMNO), which has ruled the country for the longest time, suffered a shock defeat in the election held 4 years ago, but is serious about regaining power in this election.
At the same time, like the last election, political reform groups have started campaigning to win more seats this time.
The Umno party, of which the current Prime Minister Sabri Yakub is a member, has ruled Malaysia since its independence in 1957. However, the party lost for the first time in the 2018 polls. A new government was formed under the leadership of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad following the defeat due to corruption allegations against Najib Razak, who was then Prime Minister.
However, the Mahathir government was overthrown in 2020 due to the withdrawal of some parties from the coalition. Instead, a new government was formed under the leadership of Muhyiddin Yassin, the leader of the United People’s Party of Malaysia. However, Muhyiddin’s regime was toppled within 17 months as the Umno party withdrew its support for that government as well.
Later, a new government was formed with Sabri Yakub as the interim Prime Minister on behalf of the Umno party which holds the majority of seats in the ruling coalition. However, his party does not have a majority in Parliament.
In this context, Prime Minister Shabri Yakub dissolved the Parliament last month six months before the end of its term in order to hold fresh elections and form a government with a majority. The election for the new Parliament is going to be held on the 19th.