Malaysia heads for hung parliament as ruling bloc suffers losses

Coalitions led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin make gains but fail to win a clear majority.

Malaysia’s tightly contested general election has delivered a hung Parliament, with political alliances led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin running neck and neck.

Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH or Alliance of Hope) coalition secured 82 seats in the 222-member parliament while former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-based Perikatan Nasional, or National Alliance, trailed behind with 73 seats, results from the Election Commission showed on Sunday. One seat was unannounced as of 5am local time (21:00 GMT). Elections were not held on two seats.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition — dominated by his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party — suffered major upsets, winning just 30 seats.

The corruption-tainted Barisan Nasional coalition, which ruled Malaysia since its independence from Britain until 2018, could still return to power depending on post-election alliances.

Anwar and Muhyiddin claimed their coalitions had enough support to form the government, though they did not disclose which parties they had allied with.

Without a clear winner, political uncertainty could persist as Malaysia faces slowing economic growth and rising inflation. It has had three prime ministers in as many years.

Among key election losers were former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who at 97 is leading a separate Malay movement. Mahathir came in fourth in a five-way fight in his long-held constituency on the holiday resort island of Langkawi, the election commission said.

Muhyiddin’s new National Alliance, which includes a Malay-centric conservative party and an Islamist party that has touted Islamic law, made substantial gains.

Race and religion are divisive issues in Malaysia, where the Muslim ethnic-Malay population make up the majority and ethnic Chinese and Indians the minorities.

Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional was a junior partner in Ismail’s coalition government. If the result is close, the two could come together again to block Anwar.

Anwar said he would submit a letter to Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah detailing his support. If he clinches the top job, it would cap a remarkable journey for a politician who, in 25 years, has gone from heir apparent to the premiership to a prisoner convicted of sodomy to the country’s leading opposition figure.

Expected outcome

Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi reporting from outside Kuala Lumpur said the results were similar to what opinion polls had predicted, that there would be no one party with a “clear majority”.

“There is not one party that has enough seats to form a government on their own. Now this means the smaller parties will be in a position to play kingmaker and I expect negotiations and horse trading would have already started behind closed doors.”

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri’s Barisan alliance said it accepted the people’s decision but stopped short of conceding defeat. The coalition said in a statement it remains committed to forming a stable government.

At least 70 percent of Malaysia’s 21.1 million eligible voters had cast their ballots by 4pm local Pacific Time (08:00 GMT), the election commission said. It has not given the final tally.

Voter turnout in the previous election was one of the highest at 82 percent, but given the bigger pool of voters in this poll, Saturday’s turnout had already surpassed the prior election by nearly 2 million voters.

Higher turnouts typically tend to favour the opposition.

Source

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Al Jazeera and news agencies