After last week’s election, the country risked ending up with a political impasse, since no bloc or alliance could secure a majority of votes in the parliament.
Malaysian King Abdullah of Pahang named Anwar Ibrahim, the chairman of the opposition Pakatan Harapan (the Alliance of Hope) the country’s new prime minister on Thursday, resolving an ongoing cabinet crisis.
“After taking into the consideration the views of Their Royal Highnesses the Malay Rulers, His Majesty has given consent to appoint Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia,” an official statement said.
During a general election on Saturday, Ibrahim’s alliance managed to secure 82 seats in the 222-member parliament. Ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin’s Malay-based Perikatan Nasional (PN) got 73 seats, and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition only managed to attract 30 votes.
The blocs were not able to form any coalition over the past days, with the cabinet, headed by Barisan Nasional stating they would go into opposition. However, the bloc later reversed its decision, saying that the alliance would accept any unity government decided by the king.
