Like the British sovereign, the reigning Malaysian sultan wields prerogative powers to decide who will succeed a prime minister who vacates office midterm, on the basis that the successor has the confidence of the legislature.

During a similar crisis last year, Sultan Abdullah interviewed each MP personally to ascertain their choice. He subsequently determined it was Muhyiddin who commanded parliament’s confidence.

Instead, MPs have been asked to submit their declaration letters via fax, email or WhatsApp.

With MPs and party leaders keeping their cards close to their chests, there was little indication on whether progress had been made by the aspirants in cobbling together sufficient support.

Sultan Abdullah and Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak – the deputy king – met the leaders of the country’s major parties on Tuesday afternoon.

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Following the talks, Anwar said there had been a cross-party consensus for the country’s feuding political parties to embrace a “new politics” ahead of the nomination of a new prime minister.

“Under the new form of politics, those who achieved victory cannot oppress those who have lost, like what has happened,” he said.

“The issue here is not just the appointment of a new prime minister. What’s more important for the king and his deputy is to form a new political landscape that is more conducive for the people,” he said.

Anwar, 74, did not provide further details on what the consensus represented, though multiple media reports said parties had become more amenable in recent days to the idea of a “wartime government” led by a leader viewed as non-threatening to the various political factions.

Anwar has the backing of his three-party alliance, Pakatan Harapan, which has 88 MPs.

To be picked as premier, he must prove to Sultan Abdullah that he has the backing of at least 111 lawmakers.

For this to materialise, he needs the support of the likes of other anti-Muhyiddin figures, such as Mahathir Mohamad and Shafie, the leader of the Parti Warisan Sabah.

The Bornean party has just eight MPs.

Nonetheless, Shafie – a fiery orator – has regularly been identified as a dark horse prime ministerial candidate who is palatable across the country’s deeply splintered political scene.

Tweets by one of Shafie’s lieutenants on Tuesday suggested he was considering putting his name in the hat.

Mohamad Azis Jamman, Parti Warisan Sabah’s youth chief, said while the party would back Anwar to be premier if he could obtain 111 MPs, it concurrently also wanted the opposition bloc chief to “give right of first refusal to Shafie if [Anwar] can’t get past the magic number”.

Azis suggested the two leaders should meet “face to face” and “show cards before submitting names to the palace”. There was no indication on whether the two leaders were in fact going to meet before handing final instructions on who to pick to their MPs.

Elsewhere, the powerful United Malays National Organisation (Umno) was also scheduled to hold a leadership meeting on Tuesday evening.

The party, at the centre of the current political crisis, has 38 MPs, and it could decide who becomes premier by throwing its weight en masse behind one of the hopefuls.

Umno was originally part of Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional coalition government but defections by 15 of its MPs, including the ex-prime minister Najib Razak and the party’s current president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, precipitated Muhyiddin’s loss of majority legislative support and his eventual resignation.

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Umno is divided on a way forward: one side is seen as supporting Muhyiddin loyalist Ismail Sabri as the next premier, while the likes of Najib are reported to be seeking alternative choices as they do not trust the outgoing deputy prime minister.

Zahid and Najib – both currently on trial for corruption – for months have lobbied against Muhyiddin, citing his sidelining of Umno and incompetent leadership amid the Covid-19 crisis. The Najib camp has intimated that its preferred candidate is party stalwart Razaleigh Hamzah, an ex-finance minister who has been an MP for 47 years.

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The 84-year-old is viewed as an ideal candidate to serve as an interim leader until fresh polls are called after the pandemic, as he is unlikely to harbour hopes of staying in power for a longer period.

In a speech announcing his resignation, Muhyiddin tacitly attacked Najib and Zahid as he suggested “kleptocrats” were pressuring him to free them from their legal troubles and jeopardise the judiciary’s independence.

Muhyiddin remains a caretaker prime minister with charge over all ministries and departments while Sultan Abdullah decides who will be his successor. His 70-member cabinet, the biggest in the country’s history, resigned with immediate effect on Monday.