KUALA LUMPUR: As the counting of votes in Malaysia’s election continue, in the early hours of Sunday it emerged that the bloc comprising opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was in a too-close-to-call race against the rival political alliance led by a former prime minister.
Political pundits weighing in their voices opined that political upheaval would rise further in the racially diverse country if neither of the two groups attain an uncontestable majority following the election of Saturday. Such a scenario would result in intense horse-trading negotiations.
In a major upset, former long-time premier Mahathir Mohamad, 97, was emphatically defeated in his constituency.
Corruption main point of Anwar’s campaign
With Malaysians failing to cope with inflating food prices and the incarcerated former prime minister Najib Razak bidding to maintain control of political power, Ibrahim made a fight against corruption the main focus of his campaign.
Malaysia’s election body’s officially tabulated results have now shown Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition in a close contest with Perikatan Nasional (National Alliance) of ex-prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organization (UNMO), which has a dominant presence in the currently ruling Barisan Nasional alliance, is far behind.
Political stability, economic improvement
With a greater than two-thirds voter turnout at 70 percent two hours prior to the closure of polling, those with whom AFP interacted said they hoped for the country to achieve political stability and economic improvement under the next government.
“I want a strong government and a stable economy so that there will be more job opportunities for the youth,” Nurul Hazwani Firdon, a 20-year-old tutor, said as she went to cast her ballot in the rural town of Bera in Pahang state.
Outside a voting center in Borneo island’s Sarawak state, online social media posts evidenced people queueing in waters up to the knee level.
A Twitter user video captured the footage of a person carrying an elderly woman on the back into an inundated polling station.
Najib Razak’s UNMO faced humiliating defeat in 2018
Najib Razak’s bloc, the UMNO, mostly maintains a dominant role in Malaysian politics, however, following a massive corruption scandal at the 1MDB state fund, it suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2018 general election. Razak was the main person involved in the case. Last year as a result of political quarreling between the post-2018 election government coalitions, UNMO re-emerged to form another government. Eye an even stronger mandate, the coalition decided to call elections 10 months before the scheduled one. – AFP
