Muhyiddin Yassin, former prime minister of Malaysia, said on Sunday that he had won enough votes in the general election to form a government, despite the fact that the Election Commission’s most recent figures indicated a hung parliament.
Muhyiddin declared he would cooperate with any party in order to amass the required number of votes to establish the government.
Early results from the Election Commission showed that Anwar Ibrahim, the head of Malaysia’s opposition, had a slim lead in the general election on Saturday, even though he and his main rivals fell far short of the simple majority required to form the government.
The results showed that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s current coalition had the worst performance of the three main competitors, losing territory in previously held strongholds, while former premier Muhyiddin Yassin came in a close second early on.
On Saturday, a record number of Malaysians cast ballots to put an end to the country’s current period of political unrest, which has seen three prime ministers govern it in as many years while the economy has slowed and the COVID-19 pandemic has spread.
However, it appeared unlikely that a clear winner would emerge from the election as none of the top three candidates came close to obtaining the majority required to establish a government.
The Election Commission reported that of the 177 of the 222 parliamentary seats counted, Anwar’s multiethnic Pakatan Harapan coalition was in the lead with 61 seats, followed by Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional alliance with 60 seats. 24 went to Ismail’s Barisan bloc.
(with inputs from agencies)
