Today-Nov 21
Malaysia’s election ended early on Sunday morning (Nov 20) with a hung parliament and the leaders from the two top-performing coalitions each claiming they had the numbers to form the next government. Analysts told TODAY that the situation was in a way not very different than what Malaysia already had just before then-Prime Minister Ismail Sabri dissolved the parliament in October and called for a snap election, which he said would help the country usher in a more stable government.
The country has been roiled by a turbulent political scene in the past four years, with a rapidly changing roster of Prime Ministers and a spate of party-hopping among politicians. At around 3.05am former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who leads the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, gave a press conference in which he said he planned to form a coalition with any party that was willing to work with PN and submit a proposal for the next government to Malaysia’s king by Sunday afternoon. By 4am PN had secured 73 of the 220 parliamentary seats up for grabs, just trailing behind Pakatan Harapan (PH), which had won 82 seats. Two more parliamentary seats will be contested later following the death of a candidate for one seat, and a flood affecting the voting process at another. When asked by a reporter whether PN would form an alliance with PH, however, Mr Muhyiddin said no. Barely half an hour later, PH leader Anwar Ibrahim said his coalition had already secured enough agreements with other parties to form the next government. “We have now the majority to form a government. We will notify the Palace accordingly,” said Anwar. He said that with these agreements, which were in writing, PH and its allies had secured more than 112 parliamentary seats and that he was presently asking the king for an audience. He declined to reveal which parties PH had secured these agreements with. Given the dueling narratives and the lack of details from both coalition leaders, analysts were reluctant to call the election for either of them just yet. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/world/malaysia-ge2022-rival-coalitions-hang-balance-2051521
