Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and the country’s former prime minister, Muhyidin Yasin, are confident that they already have enough backing to run next Monday for the country’s head of government, now in a political deadlock due to the lack of majorities in Saturday’s legislative elections.
«I’m very happy because we’ve practically got it done,» Anwar told a local television station in comments picked up by Bloomberg. «With this level of support, I am sure I will get the opportunity to govern the country,» he added.
Anwar at no time revealed how many parties had already provided him with their endorsement.
King Abdullah of Pahang has given Malaysia’s political leaders until 14.00 Monday (local time) to decide on the country’s new prime minister after the absolute deadlock that ended last Saturday’s legislative elections, where none of the three major coalitions that were running won a majority.
The statement from the Royal Household, reported by Bloomberg, does not mince words: once the candidate for Prime Minister has been decided, the King’s decision «will be final in this regard».
The most voted alliance was the Alliance of Hope (Pakatan Harapan), led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, with 82 seats of the 220 that make up the hemicycle, followed by the National Alliance (Perikatan Nasional) of former Prime Minister Muhyidin Yasin, with 73 seats. In third place came the National Alliance (Barisan Nasional), of the current head of the country’s government, Ismail Sabri Yaqub, with 30 seats.
The problem lies in the fact that former Prime Minister Muhyidin also sees himself able to ask King Abdullah to grant him the power to form a government with the backing of two major parties, the Sarawak Alliance of Parties and the Sabah Peoples Alliance.
«In addition, several MPs have made the same commitment,» Muhyidin said in a statement carried by the official Malaysian news agency Bernama.
All the major alliances fell far short of the 111 seats needed for a majority in an election that confirmed the demographic shift in a country where six million more young people have been able to cast their vote after the change of the electoral law and, fed up with the political chaos that has dominated Malaysia for the last four years, as well as the economic crisis, have divided their loyalties among the three major alliances.
