Malaysia's general election on November 19 had been expected to be a tightly-contested one, and the results have served to prove this forecast, as the Southeast Asian nation now faces a hung parliament, according to results announced by the Election Commission.
Not one of the three main coalitions was able to garner enough seats to form a majority. A party or coalition needs to pick up at least 112 out of the 222 parliamentary seats to secure a simple majority and form the government.
Led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the Pakatan Harapan (PH), or Alliance of Hope multiethnic coalition amassed 82 seats in the 222-member parliament. Trailing a close second with 73 seats is the former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-based Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and centered around his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party came out of the fray with just 30 lawmaker seats to show for it, in what is seen as a major setback.
Without a clear winner in the general election, the coalitions would have to seek new alliances to bolster a majority alliance to form a government. Anwar Ibrahim was reported as saying he had already conferred with other members of parliament from outside his coalition and claimed he had secured more than 111 seats. He refused to drop any names of newly-wooed allies, adding that he would follow the procedure, which requires him to submit a list to the monarch - king Abdullah of Pahang (full name Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah) first.
Ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, who underscored that his coalition would not be working with Pakatan Harapan, also said he was seeking new alliances with parties in Borneo. As another option to resolve the uncertainty, Malaysia's constitutional monarch may appoint as Prime Minister any lawmaker that he deems able to successfully command a majority.