Malaysia has gone through a whirlwind of emotions since the General Election took place last Saturday, November 19 2022. This marked Malaysia’s 15th General Election and the first election to witness voters as young as 18 years old, expanding the electorate to 31%.
The 14th parliament was due to expire on 16 July 2023. However, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah dissolved the legislature at the request of the current caretaker Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob on 10 October 2022. Constitutionally, the election would have to be held within 60 days of the dissolution thus hosting the election day on 19 November, a few weeks before the last possible polling day.
Results for 220 out of all 222 contested seats in the Dewan Rakyat were announced by the morning of 20 November 2022. Unfortunately, this election was met with devastation in the constituency of Padang Serai in Kulim district, Kedah, when their candidate under Pakatan Harapan (PH), Karuppaiya Muthusamy, passed away just three days before polling day which resulted to their election being postponed to 7 December. Baram, a federal constituency in Miri, Sarawak was also hit with a devastating flood during the day and the inclement weather prevented voters and polling workers from reaching the polling stations; and completed the polling on 21 November instead.
This year’s election resulted into a hung parliament, Malaysia’s first federal election to receive such a result since their independence day. Perikatan Nasional (PN) swept the northwestern and eastern coasts of Peninsular Malaysia by a landslide, winning every seat in the states of Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu, and all except for one in Kedah. Pakatan Harapan (PH), remained the coalition with the plurality of seats in the Dewan Rakyat despite with losses in Kedah. The historically dominant Barisan Nasional (BN) fell to third place, having lost most of its seats to Perikatan Nasional.
Several well-known members of parliament (MPs) also lost their seats during this election including former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad in Langkawi, former Finance Minister, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in Gua Musang, Trade Minister and former Selangor Menteri Besar, Azmin Ali in Gombak; and former Housing Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin in Ampang.
Incumbent Finance Minister and Senator Tengku Zafrul Aziz failed to win a seat in the Dewan Rakyat for Kuala Selangor and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also failed to defeat the Pakatan Harapan candidate, Ramanan Ramakrishnan in Sungai Buloh.
Currently with a hung parliament, rivals Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan have resulted into a coalition with several other parties in order to appeal the Yang-di Pertua Agong on who is the most suitable candidate to lead the country of Malaysia the next five years.
Malaysians are anxiously awaiting for the results of the country’s new 10th Prime Minister, set to be announced later tonight on 22 November 2022.
