A girl casts her ballot at a polling station through the fifteenth general election in Bera, Malaysia’s Pahang state on Nov. 19, 2022. Malaysians were voting in a closely run general election on Saturday, a contest that will not end years of political instability as polls point to no clear winner within the Southeast Asian nation.
Mohd Rasfan | AFP| Getty Images
Malaysians were voting in a closely run general election on Saturday, a contest that will not end years of political instability as polls point to no clear winner within the Southeast Asian nation.
Longtime opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition is forecast to win the best variety of parliamentary seats but fail to seize the bulk needed to form a government as he faces off against blocs led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin.
With no clear winner, political uncertainty could persist as Malaysia faces slowing economic growth and rising inflation. It has had three prime ministers in as a few years.
If Anwar should clinch the highest job, it could cap a remarkable journey for a politician who in 25 years has gone from heir apparent to the premiership to a political prisoner convicted of sodomy to the country’s leading opposition figure.
But rival coalitions could cobble together a coalition even when Anwar gets essentially the most votes, and the race is fluid as opinion polls show a major variety of undecided voters.
“I do not think it is feasible for any coalition to win on their very own,” said Sivamurugan Pandian, political analyst at Malaysia Science University. “By some means they’ll must work with others.”
Latest parties are splitting the vote and there are a major number of recent voters, he said.
Anwar’s bloc is multiethnic, while the opposite two prioritize the interests of the ethnic-Malay Muslim majority. Muhyiddin’s bloc includes an Islamist party that has touted shariah law.
‘Fought all these years’
Malaysia’s 21.1 million eligible voters, including 5 million recent ones, will select 222 lawmakers for the lower house of parliament.
The highest issues are the economic outlook and rising inflation. Many Malaysians are frustrated with the political instability that they think has taken politicians’ focus off economic development.
Opinion polls show Anwar within the lead, with independent pollster Merdeka Center forecasting on Friday that Anwar’s reformist Pakatan Harapan coalition was on track to take 82 seats, Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional alliance, gaining momentum amongst Malays at 43 seats, Ismail’s Barisan at 15 but 45 too near call.
Anwar was the highest alternative for prime minister at 33%, followed by Muhyiddin at 26% and Ismail at 17%.
Barisan governed for 60 years, from independence until 2018, while Perikatan is a recent bloc that has emerged as a powerful third force.
“In an effort to form the following government, Anwar must win an outright majority,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs. “Otherwise, even in the event that they win essentially the most variety of seats, the Malay-Muslim coalitions will come together to form the following government.”
Anwar got here near being prime minister in 2020, but an influence struggle in his coalition denied him the possibility. His greater than 20 years as an opposition figure have included nine years in jail for sodomy and corruption, charges he says were politically motivated.
He was released from prison in 2018 after joining with former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, each his mentor and long-time rival, to defeat Barisan for the primary time in Malaysia’s history amid public anger at the federal government over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
That coalition collapsed after 22 months in power as a result of infighting over a promise by Mahathir, now 97, at hand the premiership to Anwar. Muhyiddin briefly became premier, but his administration collapsed last 12 months, paving the way in which for Barisan’s return to power with Ismail on the helm.
Sheila Supramaniam, 30, said she’s going to vote for Anwar as his coalition stood firmly against corruption and discrimination.
“The indisputable fact that he has fought all these years to be where he’s today and seeing all the opposite prime ministers bringing down Malaysia, he deserves a probability for all that he’s passed through,” she said.
