Explainer | Malaysia election 2022: A quick guide to what you need to know
- Big personalities and long-running rivalries could snarl results, with no single coalition expected to secure enough votes to form a government alone
- The tumultuous political scene is complicated by racial policies, rising costs, economic uncertainty and an election held during monsoon season
This will be Malaysia’s 15th general election and is likely to be the most hotly contested that the country has seen so far, with the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition jockeying for position against two others: the multiracial Pakatan Harapan and the Malay nationalist Perikatan Nasional.
Here are some key things to know about the players, the parties and the controversies that make up Malaysia’s political scene.
How did we get here?
Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy, with elections typically held every five years.
As a constitutional monarchy, the king, currently Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, acts as the head of state in similar fashion to the British monarch. The Malaysian monarch has some constitutional powers but largely must abide by the decisions of the ruling government.
Until recently, Malaysians only knew of one party of government: the United Malays National Organisation (Umno). Alongside its coalition partners in Barisan Nasional, Umno ruled Malaysia without interruption from 1957, when the country gained independence from Britain, until 2018.
The general election in 2018 marked a major turning point in Malaysian political history as the Umno-led Barisan Nasional suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of Pakatan Harapan. Umno’s downfall was in part due to widespread public discontent over corruption and the unyielding cost of living.