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Malaysia election 2022
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Malaysia election 2022: Hope for Anwar as king remains firm on unity plan rejected by Muhyiddin

  • Hope lingers for Anwar to emerge as PM after Muhyiddin rejected the king’s proposal for a ‘unity government’
  • A Thursday meeting among the nation’s sultans hints that King Sultan Abdullah is ready to seek their consensus to endorse a prime ministerial nominee

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Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim attends a news conference outside the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters.
Bhavan Jaipragas
Weariness began to set in among Malaysians on Wednesday as the country’s post-election political impasse lingered, though there were positive signs for those backing reformist opposition Anwar Ibrahim as the next prime minister.
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King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s convening of a special meeting with the nation’s other hereditary sultans suggested a resolution was in sight and he was ready to seek their consensus to endorse a prime ministerial nominee.
Following meetings with Anwar and rival Muhyiddin Yassin on Tuesday, the king held talks the next morning with the leader of the Barisan Nasional bloc that could prove vital in ending the deadlock.

Both Anwar’s multi-ethnic Pakatan Harapan alliance and Muhyiddin’s conservative Malay-Muslim Perikatan Nasional bloc require the backing of some or all 30 Barisan Nasional MPs to gain a parliamentary majority and form the next government.

Barisan Nasional’s chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said after the meeting that Sultan Abdullah had “decreed” a unity government be formed.

Two sources independent of each other told This Week in Asia that Muhyiddin had flatly rejected the idea of a shared arrangement, while Anwar was amenable to the proposal floated by the king on Tuesday.

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Barisan Nasional, which had been the de facto ruling alliance before the election, suffered heavy losses in Saturday’s vote and initially resolved to sit out of any coalition government on account of being “rejected” by the people.

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Malaysia's post-election impasse drags on with king to decide next prime minister

Malaysia's post-election impasse drags on with king to decide next prime minister
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