Longtime Malaysian statesman Anwar Ibrahim is the country’s new prime minister after the Southeast Asian nation’s palace made the announcement on Thursday ending a protracted election stalemate.
Following the meeting with state leaders and in accordance with Malaysia’s constitution, the king appointed Anwar as the Southeast Asian nation’s tenth prime minister. The king said in an official statement that Anwar would be sworn in at 5 p.m. local time.
“Whether you won or lost in the election, I ask you to unite for our beloved country,” he said, according to a CNBC translation.
“It is important that our nation be free from political instability because the country needs a strong and stable government.”
He asked the elected parliamentarians to continue to serve the nation well and expressed his gratitude to the leaders of the States for their help as well as their ideas for the resolution of the crisis.
Anwar’s appointment caps a wait of more than 20 years for the former deputy prime minister who served as opposition leader for two decades amid prison sentences and political coups.
Shares listed in Malaysia were in the green before the announcement but took another step higher soon after with the benchmark KLCI up 3%. Telecom group Axiata Group Bhd was among the top gainers, rising more than 7%, with rubber glove maker Top Glove climbing 6%. Genting Malaysia also gained 5.16% and CIMB 3.45%.
The Malaysian ringgit also jumped more than one percent to 4.5070 against the greenback.
Malaysia’s general election on Saturday produced the country’s first hung parliament, prompting the king to ask major coalitions to present their alliances at 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday to form a government and appoint their preferred prime minister.
Parties and coalitions need to secure a simple majority of 112 seats in parliament, out of the 222 seats up for grabs, to form the government, but none of the coalitions was able to do so.
Malaysia has been in political uproar since Anwar’s opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition – the country’s largest – won the 2018 elections, ending the 60-year rule of the Barisan Nasional.
Malaysia has been thrown into political chaos after former prime minister and former Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Razak fell out of favor with his involvement in the multi-billion dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
But Anwar’s rival in the leadership race, Muhyiddin Yassin, and other Pakatan Harapan members defected in 2020 to form Perikatan Nasional.
The defection led to the collapse of the Pakatan government.
The Southeast Asian nation had since had three prime ministers, including Muhyiddin.
In Saturday’s elections, Pakatan won the most parliamentary seats with 82 but still falls short of 112, the number required to form government.
The ruling coalition Perikatan Nasional was in second place with 73 seats. Party chairman Muhyiddin Yassin has served as one of the prime ministers in recent years, after he and other Pakatan Harapan members defected in 2020 to form Perikatan Nasional.
The defection led to the collapse of the Pakatan government.
Anwar, served as deputy to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s before being imprisoned for bribery and sodomy.
– CNBC’s Jihye Lee contributed to this report.
