How Can Malaysia's King Help Resolve the Post-Election Crisis in his Country?

As the recent general election in Malaysia ended with no clear winner emerging, it is now up to the country’s monarch to determine who will become the next Malaysian prime minister.

The election took place on November 19 and resulted in none of the major players – namely, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition led by former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin – securing the simple majority of seats in the parliament which would have let them form the government.

With PH securing 82 seats in the 222-seat parliament, it was initially hoped that they would form a coalition with the BN, who won 30 seats, but the talks fell through as BN declared they would rather remain in opposition.

Now, as coalition talks apparently yielded no result either, Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah said Tuesday that he is going to decide between Anwar Ibrahim and Muhyiddin Yassin.

The monarch is expected to make his decision after meeting individually with each of the 30 MPs from Barisan Nasional, who will tell him which party or leader they support.

The king also called a special meeting of Malaysia’s Council of Rulers, comprised of the heads of all of the country’s nine royal houses, in order to discuss the situation with the prime minister’s appointment.

While who becomes prime minister in Malaysia is decided through elections, the country’s constitution does grant the king the power to appoint a prime minister, and the current Malaysian monarch had already exercised this power twice since ascending to the throne in 2019.

Specifically, King Al-Sultan Abdullah appointed Muhyiddin Yassin as PM in February 2020 after the resignation of latter’s predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.

And after Muhyiddin Yassin soon fell apart, the king appointed his successor Ismail Sabri Yaakob after asking lawmakers’ opinion on the matter.