No clear winner as Malaysia election ends in hung parliament

Coalition led by opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim wins most seats, however group led by ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin make good points.

Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim holds a news conference.
If Anwar Ibrahim wins, it will cap a exceptional journey for a politician who, in 25 years, has gone from inheritor obvious to the premiership to a prisoner convicted of sodomy, to the nation's main opposition determine [Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters]

Malaysia’s tightly contested normal election has resulted in a hung parliament, with the coalition led by opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim successful essentially the most seats adopted by a grouping together with the nation’s Islamist social gathering a number of seats behind.

Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition secured 82 seats within the 222-member parliament whereas former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-based Perikatan Nasional (PN) trailed behind with 73 seats, the Election Fee of Malaysia mentioned early on Sunday morning. Voting was suspended in a single seat within the Borneo state of Sarawak after flooding made it unattainable for elections employees and voters to get to some polling stations.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition – dominated by his United Malays Nationwide Organisation (UMNO) social gathering – suffered main upsets, rising with simply 30 seats. It was a serious turnaround for an alliance that dominated Malaysia’s political panorama since its independence practically 60 years in the past.

Anwar and Muhyiddin every claimed their coalitions had sufficient assist to type the federal government, though they didn't reveal which events that they had allied with. Key to the formation of any authorities would be the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, which have lengthy sought larger affect on the federal stage.

Coalition talks have been persevering with on Sunday.

Malaysia’s political panorama has grow to be more and more fractured in recent times. PH’s historic win in 2018 triggered political infighting amongst ethnic Malay events that performed on issues about race and faith in a rustic that's principally Malay Muslim however has important communities of Indigenous folks and people of Chinese language and Indian origin.

PH fell to an influence seize in February 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, and the nation has had three prime ministers in as a few years.

Lots of the former PH politicians who helped engineer that collapse have been soundly punished on the poll field, with one even shedding her deposit.

Additionally shedding his deposit was veteran former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who at 97 had arrange one other Malay-based social gathering within the wake of PH’s collapse. Mahathir got here in fourth in a five-way struggle on the resort island of Langkawi, the election fee mentioned. It was a shock defeat for somebody who had led Malaysia for some 22 years till 2003, and was as soon as revered for his position in turning Malaysia into an export large.

Muhyiddin’s PN made good points because of a surge in assist for PAS, an Islamist social gathering that expanded additional throughout northern and central Malaysia from its conventional strongholds.

In one other surprising defeat, the PAS candidate beat Anwar’s daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar within the household’s longtime stronghold in Penang state.

Former Malaysia Prime Minister and Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin and his wife Noorainee Abdul Rahman
Muhyiddin’s new Nationwide Alliance, which features a Malay-centric conservative social gathering and an Islamist social gathering, made substantial good points [Malaysian Department of Information/Nazri Rapaai/Handout via Reuters]

PN was a junior associate in Ismail’s coalition authorities, and there was hypothesis that the 2 might come collectively once more to dam Anwar.

Anwar mentioned he would submit a letter to Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah detailing his assist. If he clinches the highest job, it will mark a exceptional comeback for a politician who was Mahathir’s deputy and inheritor obvious earlier than he was instantly sacked and accused of sodomy on the top of the Asian monetary disaster in 1998. He has been jailed twice on sodomy costs, however his political fall and rise helped gas Malaysia’s reform motion and break BN’s political dominance.

Supporters of Perikatan Nasional watch a video stream for live results of Malaysia's 15th general election at a hotel in Shah Alam, Malaysia
PN supporters watch a video stream for reside outcomes of Malaysia’s fifteenth normal election in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on November 19, 2022 [Lai Seng Sin/Reuters]

Anticipated end result

Reporting from outdoors Kuala Lumpur, Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi mentioned the outcomes have been much like what opinion polls had predicted, with no single social gathering or coalition having a transparent majority.

“There's not one social gathering that has sufficient seats to type a authorities on their very own. Now this implies the smaller events will probably be ready to play kingmaker and I anticipate negotiations and horse buying and selling would have already began behind closed doorways.”

Ismail Sabri’s BN alliance mentioned it accepted the folks’s resolution however stopped in need of conceding defeat, saying in a press release it stays dedicated to forming a steady authorities.

There have been calls from some in UMNO for the resignation of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the social gathering’s president who's extensively thought to have pressured Ismail Sabri, one of many social gathering’s three vice presidents, into holding the election.

Turnout was 73.89 %, the Elections Fee mentioned on Sunday.

Voter turnout in 2018 was one of many highest at 82 %, however the pool of voters on this yr’s election was bigger on account of computerized voter registration and the discount within the voting age to 18.

The entire variety of eligible voters was 21.1 million, six million greater than final time.

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