Anwar Ibrahim Becomes Prime Minister of Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, MINA – Malaysia’s Ruling Council on Thursday decided to support opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as the country’s 10th prime minister.

The decision of the council consisting of sultans/state leaders was taken following a meeting of the nine-member Council of Rulers chaired by King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah in Kuala Lumpur, after days of political stalemate.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (75) will be sworn in as Prime Minister of Malaysia at 5pm, Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The results of Malaysia’s 15th general election held on November 19 left parliament hanging, no one can form a government on their own, with the Alliance of Hope or Pakatan Harapan (PH), led by Ibrahim, Secured most of the seats in parliament, but not enough to form a government alone.

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122 parliamentary seats (one party or coalition) are needed out of 222 seats to be able to form a government.

PH secured 82 seats, while the National Alliance or Perikatan Nasional (PN) led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin won 73 seats.

The king had met the two leaders on Tuesday and proposed a unity government, but Yassin refused.

Later, the king summoned the other eight Council members to a meeting on Thursday to end the impasse.

Support from the Front Nasional or Barisan Nasional (BN) with 30 MPs is seen as a determining factor in the new arrangement.

Another bloc of Sarawak Party Alliance, or the Sarawak Party Association (GPS), with 23 seats indicated it would support Yassin’s group, but was hesitant.(T/RE1)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)