KUALA LUMPUR – No one has a clear majority in Malaysia’s general election. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s front is ahead with 82 federal seats, but the National Alliance led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, supported by two regional parties, has come to power. The alliance got 73 seats in the 222-member parliament. Two regional parties that won 32 seats in Borneo island have expressed their support for the National Alliance. The Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), which won 49 seats, has also pledged its support to Yassin. PAS, which doubled its seats in the 2018 elections, has now become the single largest party.
The United Malay National Organization (UMNO), which was in power from 1957 to 2018 when Malaysia gained independence, suffered a heavy defeat in the elections. The alliance led by the current Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yakub got only 30 seats. They may come as a minor ally in Yasin’s government.
Muhyiddin Yassin will assume power today if King Abdullah Sultan Ahmed Shah approves it. In March 2020, Prime Minister Muhiuddin, who overthrew Anwar Ibrahim’s government with UMNO, resigned after 17 months due to factionalism in the coalition.
Big defeat for Mahathir Mohamad
Dr. who was the Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years. Mahathir Mohamad lost his first election. The 97-year-old Mahathir was defeated in the Langkawi constituency by Datuk Suheimi Abdullah of the Perikatin Nasional (PN) coalition. Abdullah got 25,463 votes while Mahathir got just 4,566 votes. The deposit amount is also lost. Armisha Siraj of the BN alliance came second with 11,945 votes. In 2018, Mahathir received 34,527 (54.9%) votes.
Content Highlight: Malaysia election result