Anwar to Meet Malaysia’s King Next Week to Prove Majority
Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim Says Has Audience With King Next Week
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Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he will meet with the country’s king on Tuesday to present proof of support from lawmakers to form a government.
“At the meeting, I will present documentation of the strong and convincing majority of members of parliament” that are backing him, he said in a statement on Thursday.
Anwar said last month he has the numbers to oust Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, raising speculation that he might soon call an election. Muhyiddin has maintained that he is the legitimate leader and denounced Anwar’s attempt to destabilize the country’s politics.
Malaysian politics has been wracked with instability this year after the collapse of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s administration in February. While Muhyiddin eventually cobbled together a coalition and took office in March, he’s only managed to command a majority of a handful of votes in Malaysia’s 222-member parliament.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle had been calling for early polls to settle months of political uncertainty. Muhyiddin has said he may hold a snap election sooner if his coalition won the state polls in Sabah, which it did by a slim majority last month.
But a snap election may worsen Malaysia’s virus outbreak. The country saw new cases jump to a record weeks after the Sabah election, prompting the government to close the state’s border.
The resurgence was fueled by politicians failing to follow social distancing guidelines when campaigning in the eastern state.
Anwar’s initial meeting with the king was delayed as the head of state was being treated at a hospital for food poisoning and sports injuries.
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