Anwar Ibrahim named Malaysian PM after post-election crisis
Malaysia’s veteran opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been named the country’s new prime minister, after several days of post-election deadlock.
The new leader was appointed by King Sultan Abdullah, after elections over the weekend resulted in an unprecedented hung parliament.
Neither Anwar nor ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin had won the simple majority needed to form a government.
Anwar will be sworn in by the king at 17:00 local time (09:00 GMT).
Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) party, which won the biggest share of seats in Saturday’s election, does not have enough seats on its own to form a government.
It is not immediately clear which party he will enter into a coalition with.
It took five days of intense negotiations to reach an agreement on a new government, during which time various combinations of parties and forms of alliances were discussed, and then rejected.
Many political leaders have personal and ideological differences, making it hard to find a workable majority.
In the end, it was left to Malaysia’s constitutional monarch, King Abdullah, to summon all the leaders to the palace to try to find sufficient common ground.
It is unclear what form the new government will take; whether a formal coalition of parties, a minority government with other parties offering a confidence and supply agreement, or a national unity government including all the main parties.
Agencies