customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

seriesContainer

printHeadline

socialHeadline

headline

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

summary

updatedDate

flag

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Joseph Sipalan

Hadi Azmi

Agencies

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.
4am, November 20: This live blog has now come to an end. Follow This Week in Asia’s coverage of what’s next in Malaysian politics after Saturday’s knife-edge election.
Polling has officially closed for Malaysia’s 15th general election, as voter turnout defied expectations in what is arguably the most hotly contested polls the country has seen.
The latest data from the Election Commission showed 14.7 million people – or 70 per cent of 21 million eligible voters – had cast their votes as of 4pm local time, exceeding the previous record of around 12.4 million votes cast in 2018.
Still, that figure is some distance from the 82 per cent turnout in the 2018 vote. There are some 6 million new voters this time around, following new legislation lowering the voting age to 18 from 21 and enabling automatic voter registration.
Observers previously suggested a low turnout was a possibility amid apathy surrounding the country’s spin-dryer politics, which has seen three prime ministers in power since 2018’s vote.
This election is also unprecedented in that three distinct coalitions are vying for the right to lead the nation for the next five years – the Umno-led Barisan Nasional, multiracial Pakatan Harapan and Malay nationalist Perikatan Nasional.


Malaysia election 2022: Muhyiddin, Anwar make rival claims about forming next government after massive ‘green wave’ in favour of Islamists

Malaysians show their inked fingers after voting in the general election in Labuan on Saturday. Photo: Bernama/dpa

Malaysians pose with their inked fingers to mark that they have voted during the general election in Seberang Perai, Penang state. Photo: AP

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


The Islamist PAS has powered a conservative ‘green wave’ among rural Malay voters disenchanted with constant bickering among the country’s main parties, observers say
The election remains too close to call, though heavyweights such as elder statesman Mahathir Mohamad and finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz have been defeated



The Islamist PAS has powered a conservative ‘green wave’ among rural Malay voters disenchanted with constant bickering among the country’s mainstream parties, observers say.


Malaysia election 2022

Malaysia

Malaysian politics

Asia elections

Live


About 70 per cent or 14.7 million of total registered voters had cast their ballots as of 4pm local time, according to the latest update from the Election Commission (EC).
The EC had earlier suspended voting in 11 polling centres in the Baram constituency in Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo, citing poor weather as voters were forced to wade through floodwaters to cast their ballots.
A new date for voting will be set at a later time, the commission said in a statement.
This means that tonight’s results will only cover 220 of the 222 parliamentary seats up for grabs. On Friday, the EC postponed the vote for the Padang Serai constituency in Kedah state to December 7, following the death of a candidate earlier in the week.
Voters in the state constituency of Tioman in Pahang state will also have to wait until December 7 to cast their ballots, after the EC postponed the contest following the death of one of the candidates in the pre-dawn hours of polling day.
Besides the parliamentary election, state elections are being held concurrently for the states of Pahang, Perlis and Perak.


70 per cent turnout at 4pm


Good evening from Subang Jaya. I am at Pakatan Harapan’s base for tonight’s result. Reporters local and foreign are streaming into the venue as we wait for things to start. pic.twitter.com/rJwREuMur6
— Hadi Azmi (@amerhadiazmi) November 19, 2022

So the waiting game begins. Leaders and supporters of the three major coalitions – Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional – will gather in designated locations to watch the election results. Here at Pakatan Harapan’s “election night HQ” in Dorsett Grand Subang Hotel, local and international media have begun trickling in.
The bloc’s leader Anwar Ibrahim is expected to arrive soon. Barisan Nasional, the country’s so-called grand old party, will gather at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Leaders of Perikatan Nasional led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will gather at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Resort.


Waiting game begins


#GE15 postal votes are being collected at Malaysia Hall today and tomorrow, ready to be flown home by election day. Thanks to volunteer students from @votemalaysiauke, many of whom are 1st time voters after #UNDI18, M'sians in the UK can cast their votes from abroad. #KitaBoleh pic.twitter.com/Ch6QINWKQM
— Charmaine Wong ✨ (@charmainewsm) November 16, 2022

The youth-centric “VoteMalaysia” movement behind efforts to galvanise overseas Malaysians to cast their ballots has said it received 35,092 voting slips from 25 countries. These were then delivered to returning officers in 216 constituencies as of 5pm on Saturday. The number of postal ballots processed by VoteMalaysia constitutes 73 per cent of the total 48,109 postal ballots issued by the Election Commission.


35,092 hand-delivered postal ballots


So what factors might voters have considered as they cast their ballots today? According to veteran political scientist Johan Saravanamuttu, voters were likely most concerned about the stability of the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alongside deciding who will best steward the economy, Malaysian voters were also likely to be mulling over which coalition is best positioned to vanquish “the monster” that is corruption in the country, Saravanamuttu told CNA.
Political analyst James Chin of the Australian National University partly disagreed, saying that corruption was a top consideration only for urban voters, with rural residents chiefly concerned with bread-and-butter issues.


‘Getting rid of the monster’

It is going to be a long night, but this is a start: the Election Commission has declared the first result, for the seat of Igan in Sarawak. Ahmad Johnie Zawawi of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak – the state’s governing coalition – has won the ward with 93.16 per cent of 14,662 votes cast.
Igan is Malaysia’s smallest constituency with just 28,290 electors. In contrast, the country’s largest seat by number of electors is Bangi in Selangor, with 303,430 registered voters.
Malaysian electoral rights groups have long complained about malapportionment – where electoral representation is skewed because of the creation of constituencies of significantly uneven sizes.


First official result: incumbents retain Malaysia’s smallest seat


Results have officially been called for five seats so far, with the Election Commission declaring victory for Sarawak’s ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
GPS is widely expected to win most of the 31 seats up for grabs in Sarawak, making it a potential kingmaker in the event that none of the major national coalitions – Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional – secure a simple majority of the 222-seat lower house of Parliament known as the Dewan Rakyat.
Meanwhile, unofficial tallies by political parties and various local media see stiff competition for some big names.
This includes opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is estimated to hold a slim lead over Perikatan Nasional’s Ahmad Faizal Azumu for the Tambun seat in Perak state.
Two-time former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is defending his seat on the holiday island of Langkawi, is trailing Barisan Nasional’s Amirshah Siraj by over 1,000 votes in early counting.


Mahathir trailing, Sarawak incumbents sailing to easy victory


Some big names may be losing their MP seats, going by official unofficial results out nearly six hours after polls closed.
There are widening expectations that elder statesman Mahathir Mohamad – who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) without interruption since 1969 – is poised to lose in the seat of Langkawi. This is likely to bring the curtain down on the 97-year-old two-time prime minister’s illustrious career in frontline politics.
Elsewhere, incumbent Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz is likely to have lost to Pakatan Harapan’s Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad in the seat of Kuala Selangor, local media project. Tengku Zafrul, a former top banker, was roped in as the country’s finance minister in 2020 following a party coup in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tengku Zafrul initially said he had no designs on being an elected lawmaker, but this year joined Umno.
Another relatively big name projected to be headed for defeat is former education minister Maszlee Malik, who is contesting in the seat of Simpang Renggam in Johor. The expected victor in that contest is Hasni Mohammad, Johor’s former chief minister.


Winners and losers so far


The results thus far suggest a strong swing in favour of the Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) in Peninsular Malaysia’s northern states, analysts say.
Speaking on Malaysian TV channel Astro Awani, Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said the voting patterns from results thus far suggested that “traditionalists” among the country’s majority Malays in states like Kedah, Perak, Terangganu and Kelantan were now seeking an alternative to the constantly bickering Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN).
PAS – with its core Islamist messaging – offered this, Baharuddin said. Other panellists agreed, saying disenchantment among rural low-income Malays over the economic performance of both BN and PH may given PAS and its Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance a shot in the arm. PN – led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin – has clinched 11 seats so far, according to an official tally at 11.40pm. PH has 18 seats and BN has 13 seats.


Green wave in favour of Islamist ‘traditionalism’


Azmin Ali, who was a central figure behind a party coup that that toppled the reformist Pakatan Harapan alliance in 2020, is headed for defeat at the hands of protégé Amirudin Shari.
In its place, Pakatan Harapan defectors including Azmin and Muhyiddin Yassin formed a new government with the help of Umno. That move is popularly referred to as the ‘Sheraton Move’ referring to the hotel where the power grab was brokered by Umno and other Malay nationalist allies.
Azmin is one of Malaysia’s biggest political names, and has been the country’s de facto no. 2 leader since the 2020 political coup.


Azmin Ali, key 2020 ‘coup-maker’, set for defeat


Mahathir Mohamad, one of the political titans of post-independence Malaysia, is likely to bow out of frontline politics after nearly seven decades after suffering his first electoral defeat in 53 years.
Mahathir garnered 4,566 votes of over 47,000 votes cast in the seat of Langkawi, or less than 10 per cent, meaning he will lose his 15,000 ringgit (US$3,294) electoral deposit.
In his time as an MP, Mahathir was prime minister twice, from 1981 to 2003, and then again from 2018 to 2020.
To his supporters, Mahathir was the father of the country’s modernisation and he is credited for force-marching the country from a hyper reliance on agriculture and mining towards becoming an industrial powerhouse and one of Southeast Asia’s most important economies.
During his first tenure as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, he presided over multiple mega projects including the creation of the new administrative capital Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.
The country’s first prime minister of lay heritage, he also made his mark by facing off with the powerful hereditary monarchs and stripping them of some powers in the 1990s.
Critics viewed the veteran politician as an archetypal despot who perpetuated crony capitalism, nepotism and race-based politics.
Overseas, Mahathir gained notoriety for his stridently anti-Semitic views and for browbeating political opponents including his one-time protégé Anwar Ibrahim.
The last major act of his seven-decade political career was arguably the most audacious: after more than a decade in retirement, he returned to frontline politics to topple the powerful United Malays National Organisation (Umno) he once led, and became prime minister for the second time.
That 2018-2020 stint in power came about after he joined hands with Anwar and other former enemies to take down the incumbent prime minister, Najib Razak, following Najib’s links to the plunder of billions of state funds in the 1MDB scandal.
In 2020, he was forced to resign as prime minister – and as leader of the Pakatan Harapan alliance that gained power in 2018 – following internal turmoil within the bloc. Critics say he engineered the power tussle to gain an upper hand over internal rivals but the move turned awry. As a result, he occupied an unfamiliar position on the fringes of politics following his ousting.
He contested Saturday’s poll under the aegis of a new party, Pejuang or the “Homeland Fighters’ Party”, which he hoped would play a kingmaker role.
Mahathir was the MP of the Kubang Pasu constituency from 1974 to 2004. He was the MP for Alor Setar Selatan – also in Kedah – from 1964 to 1969, when he was defeated by a member of the Islamist PAS party.


Mahathir, titan of Malaysian politics, bows out


A new coalition led by former Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin is leading after Saturday’s general election, with opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim a close second, early results from the Election Commission showed.
As Malaysians headed out to vote in a country that has seen three prime ministers in as many years, opinion polls were forecasting Anwar’s alliance would take the most seats in parliament but fail to reach the majority needed to form a government.
But Muhyiddin’s new alliance, which includes a Malay-centric conservative party and an Islamist party that has touted sharia law, made strong gains.
The other main contender – Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition – was losing ground in traditional strongholds to Muhyiddin’s bloc, the results showed.
As of 12.30am, the Election Commission had announced results for 123 of the 222 parliamentary seats. Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional alliance won 42 seats, while Anwar’s multiracial coalition won 36.
Perikatan was a junior partner in Ismail’s coalition government. If the result is close, the two could come together again to block Anwar.


Muhyiddin Yassin in the driver’s seat – for now

The following well known MPs have been defeated, or are very likely to be defeated in Saturday’s general election:


Mahathir Mohamad (two-time prime minister)


Azmin Ali (senior minister in charge of economic affairs)


Khairy Jamaluddin (health minister)


Tengku Zafrul Aziz (finance minister)


Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (12-term MP)


Tengku Adnan Bin Tengku Mansor (former secretary general of Umno)


Nurul Izzah Anwar (3-term MP)




‘Green wave’ election fells major names in Malaysian politics


Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, leader of the Barisan Nasional bloc comprising the powerful Umno party, has issued a statement saying that the alliance accepts the people’s decision in Saturday’s vote.
Barisan Nasional has fared relatively poorly, with the upstart Perikatan Nasional alliance led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin beating it in wards once seen as Umno strongholds.
Barisan Nasional will remain committed to contributing to establishing a stable government, and stands ready to set aside prior differences and sentiments, Zahid said in his statement without naming Perikatan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan.
The Malaysiakini news portal at 1.40am said it was declaring a “hung parliament” – meaning no single coalition or party will be able to form the next government on its own.
Pakatan Harapan is currently in the lead with victory in the bag, or very likely, in 70 seats. However, with just 38 seat left to be declared, no party will be able to secure a simple majority of 111 seats.
The various coalition are likely to have closed-door talks in the coming hours – and days – to formulate new alliances.
Saturday’s results suggest Umno’s decision to trigger early polls – well ahead of a July 2023 deadline – has backfired.


Barisan Nasional, trailing Muhyiddin’s bloc, says it respects ‘people’s decision’

Malaysia is heading for its first-ever hung parliament as coalitions led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin are poised to fail to win a majority, fuelling political uncertainty in an economy on a fragile rebound.
Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan coalition was in the lead with 75 seats and there were 20 contests left to be called, according to local media Malaysiakini. That means no alliance would be able to get the 111 seats required from Saturday’s vote to immediately win a majority.
The result will extend a political crisis that has seen the government change three times in four years and hampered efforts to bring down the cost of living and rein in a growing deficit in the aftermath of spending to shield the economy from the pandemic.
Malaysia’s king will now play a key role in breaking the impasse. The winner with the most votes may be given the first opportunity to negotiate a minority government, or candidates for prime minister may be allowed to forge pacts between their coalitions, as was the case in the formation of the last two governments.
If that fails, the king may determine which leader he believes commands majority in parliament, though this would not be tested publicly until parliament reconvenes, said New Sin Yew, a constitutional lawyer at AmerBON Advocates.


Malaysia faces hung parliament with polls too close to call


Muhyiddin Yassin, leader of Malaysia’s upstart Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance, said his bloc was ready to begin talks with other parties to form the next federal government.
Former prime minister Muhyiddin’s Bersatu party, along with its ally the Islamist PAS, have won a total of 73 seats, with six of the 220 seats in play still unannounced.
PN requires the support of other parties to obtain a simple majority of 112 seats. Muhyiddin said he was ready to work with the two major blocs in the Malaysian Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. These regional alliances have fared well in the polls, and earlier said they would form a so-called Borneo bloc to solidify their negotiating position.
Asked if he would work with the reformist Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliance - from which Muhyiddin defected from to form Perikatan Nasional - the former prime minister replied curtly: “Not with PH”.
Muhyiddin added that he had received a letter from Istana Negara, the national palace but declined to disclose its contents.
The country’s king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, has prerogative powers to invite the leader of the political party with the largest number of MPs to form the next government.


Muhyiddin says ready to work with Borneo alliances to form next government


Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the Pakatan Harapan alliance, has said the bloc has obtained the support of at least 112 MPs, but declined to disclose further details.
He has disputed the possibility that Perikatan Nasional’s Muhyiddin Yassin – which has stunned the country with significant seat gains nationwide – was in pole position to form the next government. “It is impossible for him to claim to do so … we have it in writing.”
“We have all the documents … but we have to respect the process and decorum to first submit [to the king],” Anwar said.
He repeatedly declined to respond to questions on whether his bloc would join forces with its arch-rival, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and its Barisan Nasional alliance.
Pakatan Harapan, comprising Anwar’s People’s Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party and Amanah, along with the bloc’s electoral ally Muda, has won 80 seats so far, according to the Malaysiakini news portal.


Anwar claims Pakatan Harapan ‘has crossed 112 number’


All eyes will next turn to Malaysia’s constitutional monarch, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
The winner with the most votes may be given the first opportunity to negotiate a minority government, or candidates for prime minister may be allowed to forge pacts between their coalitions, as was the case in the formation of the last two governments.
If that fails, the king may determine which leader he believes commands majority in parliament, though this would not be tested publicly until parliament reconvenes. We can expect more twists and turns on Sunday, and possibly over the coming week.
Follow This Week in Asia’s continuing coverage of what’s next in Malaysian politics after Saturday’s knife-edge election. Goodbye for now!


Royal prerogative: all eyes on the king