Former Malaysian leader Dr Mahathir Mohamad is poised to become the world’s oldest prime minister after defeating Najib Razak in a fiercely contested election that put an end to the ruling coalition’s six-decade hold on power.

Mr Mahathir (92) who was prime minister between 1981 and 2003, led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, to its first election victory since Malaysian independence in 1957, winning an outright parliamentary majority. He will be sworn in by the king on Thursday.

A euphoric mood gripped Malaysia at the announcement, which many had believed impossible. “We are so happy, such a proud day for Malaysia,” said David Thaiga (57), who joined others in the street to celebrate.

“We have been waiting for this for the past 60 years. This is a miracle for us. And even though I was not a fan of Mahathir, I think he was the only one who could have brought this victory.”

Sukumira Sekhar (84) witnessed the beginning of Malaysian independence and lived through 60 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, said: “I’m so happy I survived to see this. I wish I could jump up and down for joy, but be sure my heart is jumping up and down. I’m so proud of the people of Malaysia, especially the young people and the Malays who swung it.”

Mr Mahathir’s win marks the end of the nine-year tenure of Mr Najib, who came to power in 2009 and whose reputation was tarnished by the 1MDB corruption scandal in which $2.6 billion was embezzled from a government fund he was overseeing – including $681 million that was alleged to have ended up in his personal bank account.

Mr Mahathir’s victory marks the first time that a Malaysian prime minister will not be from the UMNO party and not be part of the BN coalition, of which UMNO is the main constituent.

The win indicates that a mood for change has gripped the country, following the “Malay tsunami” in which many ethnic Malay voted for the opposition for the first time.

Voter turnout was 76 per cent – lower than in the 2013 election – but the opposition took many states that were considered BN strongholds such as Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Penang.

The campaign also galvanised the youth vote for the first time, with young people taking to social media to add their support to the opposition.

“This is a pure adrenaline rush. We have been waiting for this change for the longest time,” said Naveen Kumar (31). “We have been infected with a BN government for so long and now it’s a total relief.”

Shaliz Kumar (28) said: “The young people had a big part to play in this. I called all my friends to make sure they had voted.”

The official results, usually announced by 11pm, were not released until about 3am, and some alleged that Mr Najib was trying to stall the announcement. Constituencies that were swinging towards the opposition also reported electricity blackouts, hindering the final count.

In the end, however, Mr Najib made no public statement after Mr Mahathir had claimed victory in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Mr Mahathir’s selection as opposition leader had made this an unusual election: he was an UMNO member when he first came to power in 1981, and played a key role selecting his protege Mr Najib as prime minister in 2009.

The relationship soured in 2015 after Mr Najib was implicated in the 1MDB scandal, and this year Mr Mahathir announced he was not only forming his own political party, Bersatu, but switching sides and joining the opposition coalition.

Mr Najib had initially been expected to win easily, but, as campaigning picked up, the opposition dominated the narrative, raising issues such as corruption and the rising cost of living.

After claiming victory on Thursday morning, Mr Mahathir was asked whether he would seek to prosecute Mr Najib for his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal. “We are not seeking revenge, we are seeking to restore the rule of law,” he said.

As part of his agreement with Pakatan Harapan, Mr Mahathir will only be prime minister for two years, and then will cede power to Anwar Ibrahim. Mr Anwar, who was also once Mr Mahathir’s protege, is currently in jail serving a second sentence for sodomy.

Mr Mahathir and Anwar fell out publicly in 1999 and Mr Mahathir was responsible for jailing Mr Anwar, but the pair put aside their differences in their united desire to take down Mr Najib.

The plan now is for Mr Mahathir to have Mr Anwar pardoned so he can take office. “He’ll be released in June,” said Mr Mahathir. “Once he’s pardoned, he’s eligible to be PM again.” Mr Mahathir also announced after his victory that he would appoint Wan Azizah,Mr Anwar’s wife, as his deputy prime minister.

The police have warned people against gathering in the streets to celebrate in case of rioting; however, a large group gathered outside the Pakatan Harapan headquarters in Petaling Jaya to cheer and wave flags.

For Dr Mohan Mahatheva, who was in the crowd, “tonight this is true freedom for Malaysia. We freed ourselves from colonialism, now we have freed ourselves from kleptocracy”, he said. “At least I know my children will live in a truly independent Malaysia.” – Guardian</s>In Election Upset, Malaysia's Mahathir Returns To Power After A Quarter Century

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's former prime minister who came out of retirement in his 90s to challenge his own party's embattled incumbent, has won a surprise victory in elections — ending more than six decades of rule by the country's dominant party.

Mahathir, who was already the country's longest-serving prime minister when he resigned in 2003, will become the world's oldest elected leader at 92 after defeating Prime Minister Najib Razak, who had been mired in a long-running and all-encompassing corruption scandal.

Although Mahathir has taken back the post he held previously for more than two decades as the head of the dominant United Malays National Organization-Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition, this time he ran under a new party banner — the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), and his win ushers in the first real change in government since Malaysia won independence from British rule in 1957.

Pakatan Harapan won a majority in parliament and is expected to sweep state elections once all the votes are counted.

In a news conference Thursday, Mahathir — who was often criticized for his heavy-handed rule in the past — says the win is a clear mandate to form a new government.

He expects to be sworn in as prime minister immediately. However, a technicality whereby Malaysia's king must first invite the premier because Mahathir's coalition only achieved a simple majority, could delay when the new leader takes over.

"There is an urgency here, we need to form the government now, today," Mahathir told reporters.

A defeated Najib, in his own press conference on Thursday, said he and his colleagues "accept the verdict of the people" and that his party "will honor the principle of democracy in the parliament."

Naijib, 64, was under massive pressure in the run-up to the election thanks to various allegations of corruption and misappropriation of billions in state funds in a scandal that became known as 1MDB and became subject to an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

The elections were made more contentious when Naijib and his party were accused of trying to skew election results in their favor by redrawing electoral lines based on race and ethnic grouping, while railroading an anti-Fake News bill through parliament.

That bill, one of the first of its kind passed in the world, allowed for up to six years in jail and fines as high as $130,000 for anyone found guilty by the government of spreading and publishing misleading information. The law saw one person prosecuted ahead of the election.

Furthermore, the opposition was afraid an election held mid-week would suppress voter turnout and many in the Malaysia diaspora were furious — who are allowed to vote absentee — about the length of time it took them to get their voting ballots.

As the results of the election started to roll in, supporters of Mahathir poured into the streets in celebration.

Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at John Cabot University in Rome, told NPR that many of the voters were simply unhappy with the high cost of living and unpopular tax hikes, and embarrassed by the 1MDB scandal.

She says Malaysia has moved in a very brave direction.

"It's repudiated the government that's been in power for 61 years in a rout," she says. "And it's moving and I think it's entering a new period of its political history with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of hope."

She told the Associated Press that Mahathir's run was a game-changer for the opposition.

"There is a massive swing across races. It's a big shift. This is a repudiation of Najib's government from all walks of life from the very rural northern states to the more industrial southern coast," she says. Though there is a sense of elation, people don't know what to make of it.

Umpagan Ampikaipakan, a Malaysian radio broadcaster with the country's only independent English-language talk radio station, spoke to NPR about the unique nature of the election outcome.

"This has never, ever happened. I don't think anyone was expecting it, because it's very similar to a kind of Brexit-Trump situation in that almost every opinion poll, almost every survey done, almost every op-ed written had Najib Razak returning to power, maybe [by] a slim majority," he says. "So this was quite a shock to most people."

Even so, Ampikaipakan says there is still a lot of unknowns about the opposition party's plans moving forward, especially in terms of economics and foreign policy, because there has never been anyone else in charge.

"What we do know is that when Dr. [Mahathir] Mohamad ... was prime minister a decade and a half ago, he had an interesting relationship with America," he says. "He was publicly very critical about America and American policies, but privately ... we discovered that actually he had a very close relationship with America."

Ampikaipakan says he doesn't know what that means, though, under the Trump administration.

"Ironically, the relationship between Malaysia and America was probably the strongest during the reign of our outgoing prime minister Najib Razak," he says.</s>Mahathir Mohamad won a stunning victory in Malaysia’s election, ending the six-decade rule of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s party in a landmark shift for the Southeast Asian nation.

Mahathir, Malaysia’s longest-serving premier, who defected to the opposition to take on Najib, will return to power at the age of 92. His four-party Pakatan Harapan alliance won at least 112 of 222 parliamentary seats in Wednesday’s vote, official figures from the election commission showed.

“We are not seeking revenge,” Mahathir said. “What we want to do is to restore the rule of law.”</s>Former Malaysian leader Dr Mahathir Mohamad is poised to become the world’s oldest prime minister after defeating Najib Razak in a fiercely contested election that put an end to the ruling coalition’s six-decade hold on power.

Mr Mahathir (92) who was prime minister between 1981 and 2003, led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, to its first election victory since Malaysian independence in 1957, winning an outright parliamentary majority. He will be sworn in by the king on Thursday.

A euphoric mood gripped Malaysia at the announcement, which many had believed impossible. “We are so happy, such a proud day for Malaysia,” said David Thaiga (57), who joined others in the street to celebrate.

“We have been waiting for this for the past 60 years. This is a miracle for us. And even though I was not a fan of Mahathir, I think he was the only one who could have brought this victory.”

Sukumira Sekhar (84) witnessed the beginning of Malaysian independence and lived through 60 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, said: “I’m so happy I survived to see this. I wish I could jump up and down for joy, but be sure my heart is jumping up and down. I’m so proud of the people of Malaysia, especially the young people and the Malays who swung it.”

Mr Mahathir’s win marks the end of the nine-year tenure of Mr Najib, who came to power in 2009 and whose reputation was tarnished by the 1MDB corruption scandal in which $2.6 billion was embezzled from a government fund he was overseeing – including $681 million that was alleged to have ended up in his personal bank account.

Mr Mahathir’s victory marks the first time that a Malaysian prime minister will not be from the UMNO party and not be part of the BN coalition, of which UMNO is the main constituent.

The win indicates that a mood for change has gripped the country, following the “Malay tsunami” in which many ethnic Malay voted for the opposition for the first time.

Voter turnout was 76 per cent – lower than in the 2013 election – but the opposition took many states that were considered BN strongholds such as Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Penang.

The campaign also galvanised the youth vote for the first time, with young people taking to social media to add their support to the opposition.

“This is a pure adrenaline rush. We have been waiting for this change for the longest time,” said Naveen Kumar (31). “We have been infected with a BN government for so long and now it’s a total relief.”

Shaliz Kumar (28) said: “The young people had a big part to play in this. I called all my friends to make sure they had voted.”

The official results, usually announced by 11pm, were not released until about 3am, and some alleged that Mr Najib was trying to stall the announcement. Constituencies that were swinging towards the opposition also reported electricity blackouts, hindering the final count.

In the end, however, Mr Najib made no public statement after Mr Mahathir had claimed victory in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Mr Mahathir’s selection as opposition leader had made this an unusual election: he was an UMNO member when he first came to power in 1981, and played a key role selecting his protege Mr Najib as prime minister in 2009.

The relationship soured in 2015 after Mr Najib was implicated in the 1MDB scandal, and this year Mr Mahathir announced he was not only forming his own political party, Bersatu, but switching sides and joining the opposition coalition.

Mr Najib had initially been expected to win easily, but, as campaigning picked up, the opposition dominated the narrative, raising issues such as corruption and the rising cost of living.

After claiming victory on Thursday morning, Mr Mahathir was asked whether he would seek to prosecute Mr Najib for his alleged role in the 1MDB scandal. “We are not seeking revenge, we are seeking to restore the rule of law,” he said.

As part of his agreement with Pakatan Harapan, Mr Mahathir will only be prime minister for two years, and then will cede power to Anwar Ibrahim. Mr Anwar, who was also once Mr Mahathir’s protege, is currently in jail serving a second sentence for sodomy.

Mr Mahathir and Anwar fell out publicly in 1999 and Mr Mahathir was responsible for jailing Mr Anwar, but the pair put aside their differences in their united desire to take down Mr Najib.

The plan now is for Mr Mahathir to have Mr Anwar pardoned so he can take office. “He’ll be released in June,” said Mr Mahathir. “Once he’s pardoned, he’s eligible to be PM again.” Mr Mahathir also announced after his victory that he would appoint Wan Azizah,Mr Anwar’s wife, as his deputy prime minister.

The police have warned people against gathering in the streets to celebrate in case of rioting; however, a large group gathered outside the Pakatan Harapan headquarters in Petaling Jaya to cheer and wave flags.

For Dr Mohan Mahatheva, who was in the crowd, “tonight this is true freedom for Malaysia. We freed ourselves from colonialism, now we have freed ourselves from kleptocracy”, he said. “At least I know my children will live in a truly independent Malaysia.” – Guardian</s>KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s former authoritarian ruler Mahathir Mohamad, who in an unlikely political comeback led opposition parties to an unprecedented election victory, said Thursday they have a clear mandate to form a government and insisted he should be immediately confirmed as prime minister.

In a lively news conference peppered with cussing and trademark wisecracks, 92-year-old Mahathir flagged significant changes for Malaysia which he described as being left in a “mess” by defeated Prime Minister Najib Razak and the National Front coalition.

Najib, whose reputation was battered by an epic corruption scandal and an unpopular goods and sales tax, conceded defeat, ending 60 years of unbroken rule by the Malay-dominated National Front.

The U.S. Justice Department says $4.5 billion was looted from state investment fund 1MBD by associates of Najib between 2009 and 2014, including $700 million that landed in Najib’s bank account. He has denied wrongdoing.

Mahathir disputed Najib’s assertion that Malaysia’s king must appoint the new prime minister because no single party has a parliamentary majority, calling it “confusion.” The constitution, he said, only specifies that the prime minister must represent those with a majority in the legislature.

“We need to have this government today without delay,” Mahathir said. “There is a lot of work to be done. You know the mess the country is in and we need to attend to this mess as soon as possible,” he said.

Mahathir, leader for 22 years until stepping down in 2003, said the new government would seek the release and full pardon of Anwar Ibrahim, an opposition icon imprisoned on sodomy charges that Anwar and his supporters said were fabricated by the National Front to crush the opposition. Anwar, whose sentence ends on June 8, should be free to participate in politics, he said.

On the economic front, Mahathir vowed to cancel a goods and service tax imposed since 2015 and said the government could also renegotiate the terms of Chinese loans for infrastructure projects.

He also criticized a “fake news” law pushed through parliament by the National Front during the lead-up to the election. Mahathir is being investigated under that law for claiming his plane had been sabotaged during the campaign.

Supporters of the incoming government took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to celebrate their unexpected victory.

People stood on roadsides waving the white, blue and red flag of the opposition alliance that triumphed in Wednesday’s election. Cars honked their horns as they sped past.

“I’m so happy,” said Zarini Najibuddin while waving the opposition flag. “I hope we’ll have a better Malaysia now. Malaysia reborn!”

Mahathir was credited with modernizing Malaysia during his rule but was also known as a heavy-handed leader who imprisoned opponents and subjugated the courts.

Angered by the graft scandal at 1MDB, Mahathir emerged from political retirement and joined the opposition in an attempt to oust Najib, his former protege. He said the new government will not conduct a witch hunt, but Najib will have to face the consequences if he has broken the law.

In his concession speech, Najib said he accepted the “verdict of the people.”

The National Front “will honor the principle of democracy in the parliament,” he said.</s>Mr Najib, who has been power since 2009, held a commanding lead over his 92-year-old rival and former mentor but has seen the tide has turned against him, even in the rural strongholds of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Officials from his Umno party have warned if he wins fewer than 130 seats out of a total of 222 he is likely to face a leadership challenge. Mr Najib has faced growing criticism over his his role in a huge financial scandal, where $2.6bn from a government fund he was overseeing was embezzled and spent around the world and $681m of it was alleged to have ended up in his personal bank account.

But experts believe the election will be decided by a large silent majority, many of whom live in remote rural areas of Malaysia and traditionally have voted for BN. Among rural farmers and ethnic Malay in states such as Sabah and Sarawak, Mr Najib demands huge loyalty for the generous subsidies given out and issues such as the 1MDB corruption scandal do not factor in their voting choices. For him to lose to Mr Mahathir, it would require a huge swing away from him in these heartland areas. The country's rising cost of living is a hot topic, and a Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced in 2015, as well as the depreciation of the ringgit, have hit many Malaysians.

Mr Najib has promised to almost double cash handouts to low-income households. Research analyst Rashaad Ali from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies said: "The big issue is cost of living — other issues like corruption are secondary to Malaysians' bread and butter." No one has been convicted of any crime connected to 1MDB and Malaysia's attorney general has cleared Mr Najib of any wrongdoing. Zeger Van Der Wal, associate professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said: "We certainly can conclude that the prime minister is a very skillful political player. “And when there's a skillful politician that still has considerable popular support, you'll also see that they tend to survive scandals like this.”

Investors are watching closely as Malaysia is one of six emerging economies where elections have "the potential to move markets," according to UBS. And with the GST and currency proving major voter concerns, the outcome of the election will likely affect the country's economic policies. Peter Mumford, director of Asia at risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said: "A weakened Najib would have less political capital to push ahead with post-election fiscal consolidation, though he would not likely go as far as scrapping the unpopular GST, which has exacerbated concerns over the rising cost of living.” Mr Najib's plans for infrastructure projects and a pivot toward China could also be in jeopardy if victory goes to Mr Mahathir.</s>Malaysian veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad, 92, said he expected to be sworn in as prime minister later Thursday after his stunning election win, adding there was an "urgency" for him to take office.

"We expect today for me to be sworn in as prime minister," he told a press conference, addressing concerns over a delay by saying that some "confusion" over the process had now been cleared up.

"We hope by 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) today we will have a prime minister. Any delay means there is no government. If there is no government there is no law or any institutions."

Mahathir stormed to an unexpected victory early Thursday at the head of an alliance packed with parties that opposed him during his two decades in power, toppling the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

The former strongman came out of retirement to take on his former protege, scandal-hit Prime Minister Najib Razak.</s>KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Latest on Malaysia’s election (all times local):

Mahathir Mohamad says the opposition parties who won a shock victory in Malaysia’s elections have a clear mandate to form a new government and he expects to be sworn in as prime minister on Thursday.

He disputed outgoing premier Najib Razak’s assertion that the king must appoint the new prime minister because no single party has a parliamentary majority. The constitution, he said, only specifies that the prime minister must represent those with a majority in the legislature.

In a lively news conference, the 92-year-old Mahathir flagged sweeping changes for Malaysia.

He vowed to cancel an unpopular goods and service tax imposed since 2015 and criticized a recently introduced “fake news” law. The government could also renegotiate the terms of Chinese loans for infrastructure projects.

Mahathir said the new government would seek the release and full pardon of Anwar Ibrahim, an opposition icon imprisoned on sodomy charges that Anwar and his supporters said were fabricated by the National Front to crush the opposition.

Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak, who led the ruling National Front coalition to a historic loss in a national election on Wednesday, has conceded defeat.

At a televised press conference, Najib said, “I and my colleagues accept the verdict of the people.”

He said the National Front “will honor the principle of democracy in the parliament.”

Opposition parties, led by Malaysia’s former authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad, tapped into anger over a corruption scandal and a new tax to end the National Front’s 60-year hold on power.

Because no single party won a majority in the election, Najib said the country’s king will have responsibility for appointing the next prime minister.

“The national front will respect whatever decision is made by the king,” he said. “I urge all Malaysians to be calm and to trust the king’s wisdom to make the best choice.”

Supporters of Malaysia’s new government have taken to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to celebrate their unexpected election victory.

People stood on roadsides waving the white, blue and red flag of the opposition alliance that triumphed in Wednesday’s national election. Cars honked their horns as they sped past.

“I’m so happy,” said a woman waving the opposition flag. “I hope we’ll have a better Malaysia now. Malaysia reborn!”

Malaysian voters were angered by a corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and new taxes. The opposition victory ends the ruling National Front’s 60-year-old on power,

Mahathir Mohamad says the new Malaysian government will not be seeking revenge on defeated prime minister Najib Razak, who is accused of involvement in a corruption scandal at state investment fund 1MDB.

U.S. investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund by associates of Najib between 2009 and 2014, including $700 million that landed in Najib’s bank account.

Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, clamped down on dissent to survive the scandal.

Mahathir said he is not seeking revenge and wants to restore the rule of law.

He added that those found to have breached the law will be prosecuted.

Mahathir Mohamad has said after he led a Malaysian opposition alliance to a historic election victory that he expects a prime minister will be sworn in within a day.

Mahathir was the country’s authoritarian leader for 22 years until 2003. He says the opposition’s majority is bigger than announced so far.

The 92-year-old Mahathir says a representative of Malaysia’s constitutional monarchy has contacted the opposition to acknowledge its victory.

Mahathir emerged from retirement and joined the opposition after being angered by an epic corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The opposition’s win ends the National Front’s 60 year hold on power.

Official results from Malaysia’s national election show the opposition alliance led by the country’s former authoritarian ruler Mahathir Mohamad has won a majority in parliament, ending the 60-year rule of the National Front.

The Election Commission says the opposition has so far won 112 seats and the National Front has 76 seats.

The opposition is also sweeping state elections, including Johor state where the dominant Malay party in the National Front was founded.

Malaysian voters have been angered by a corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and new taxes.

Mahathir is 92 and leads an alliance of opposition parties.</s>KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysians voted on Wednesday in a cliffhanger election pitting Prime Minister Najib Razak’s coalition against a resurgent opposition led by 92-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad, but the government is expected to clinch a narrow win.

Leaders from both the opposition alliance and the ruling party claimed their communications were being disrupted by non-stop spam calls on their mobile phones as voting progressed.

Najib’s Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is expected to win despite an election-eve opinion poll suggesting that its support was slipping and that Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) would land more votes in peninsular Malaysia, home to 80 percent of the population.

Under Malaysia’s first-past-the-post system, the party or alliance with the majority of seats in the 222-member parliament wins. Most experts believe that is within Najib’s reach despite allegations of kleptocracy in a multi-billion-dollar graft scandal that have dogged him since 2015.

Najib has been cleared of any offence by the attorney general.

“I think right now, it looks more favorable to BN ... however, the margin that we’re talking about is very small,” said Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman, a Malaysia scholar at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Polling stations for the 14.9 million registered voters will close at 5:00 p.m. (0900 GMT). The Election Commission said that after four hours of voting the turnout had been 47 percent, which - according to media reports in 2013 - compared with 59 percent in the last election.

Most results are expected before midnight (1600 GMT) but the count may spill into the early hours of Thursday.

“This is a big day for Malaysia as this is when we decide our future,” said cardiologist Hasri Samion at a polling station in central Kuala Lumpur. “I think the people have been complacent for too long. We need a visionary to lead Malaysia.”

Najib, casting his vote, said he was confident of victory following what he described as “quite vicious” personal attacks during the campaign.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said in a statement that an initial investigation into the spam calls pointed to anonymous bot (automated program) attacks from various sources and on various targets irrespective of political parties.

“We have lost contact with all of our polling agents,” said Lim Guan Eng, a senior leader of the opposition Democratic Action Party. “Our campaign workers are also affected. This is a dirty tech attack on us, we have been paralyzed.”

In a tweet, Najib condemned the “tactic of spam calls” from international numbers received by his camp’s leaders and said web sites of the BN alliance could not be accessed. He said he had ordered immediate action to be taken.

The survey published by independent pollster Merdeka Center on Tuesday said BN looked set to win 100 constituencies nationwide and the opposition 83. With these numbers, neither camp would have the 112 seats required to rule and the result will hinge on 37 seats that the pollster said were too close to call.

At the last election in 2013, BN lost the majority vote in its worst performance ever, but pulled in 133 seats.

Unless he improves on that tally, Najib could come under pressure within his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party to stand aside ahead of the next election, analysts say.

Nawab, the scholar, said there was a small chance that neither BN nor the opposition secures a majority, which would bring a “hung parliament” and potentially put the Islamic Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) in the position of kingmaker.

However, political analysts believe PAS will fall short of the 21 seats it won in 2013. The Merdeka poll had it winning just two seats.

Mahathir’s opposition alliance, which counts on urban votes and support from the minority ethnic Chinese and Indian communities, is hoping that with the long-ruling former leader as its standard bearer, it will draw in Malay voters traditionally loyal to BN.

However, Mahathir is a polarizing figure and many voters are suspicious of him because of his attacks on independent institutions when he was prime minister between 1981 and 2003.

Najib’s other formidable opponent is former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence on a sodomy conviction that has been attacked by human rights groups as politically motivated.

Anwar led the opposition in the 2008 and 2013 polls. In an unlikely reconciliation, he has joined hands with Mahathir, who sacked him as his deputy in 1998.

In Najib’s favor, ethnic Malays support BN for affirmative-action policies that give them government contracts, cheap housing and guaranteed university admissions.

But Najib, 64, has been buffeted by a scandal over 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund from which billions of dollars were allegedly siphoned off. The prime minister, who was chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board, has denied any wrongdoing.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a stunning result that made political history, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition crossed the minimum threshold of 112 seats needed to form Malaysia's new government, according to figures from the Election Commission early Thursday (May 10) morning.

The result brings to an end the rule of Barisan Nasional (BN), which has dominated Malaysian politics for decades.

In a press conference just before the official confirmation, opposition leader and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said PH had achieved a victory.

"We have achieved a very substantial majority," said the 92-year-old.

PH component parties Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Democratic Action Party officially crossed the victory threshold at around 4am after a long night of results which saw power steadily ebbing away from Najib Razak and his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party. The final official result showed that PH had won 113 seats, with BN on 79.



Dr Mahathir also said that a palace request has been made for Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to be the designated deputy Prime Minister.



The 92-year-old pledged a government that would include a "young person" and said he would honour his agreement to help secure a royal pardon for jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

However, he added that Anwar would have to win a by-election or be elected senator in order for him to take over as prime minister from Dr Mahathir, as per their agreement.

FIRST SIGN OF AN UPSET

The first sign that an upset was on the cards came when unofficial results started trickling in about four hours after the ballot boxes were closed.

At about 9pm, Bernama reported that caretaker Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, the president of BN component party Malaysian Chinese Association, had lost his Bentong seat to PKR’s Wong Tack.

Caretaker Health Minister S Subramaniam, of BN component party Malaysian Indian Congress, was the next major casualty, losing his Segamat seat in Johor to PKR’s R Santhara Kumar.

At 9.30pm, there was respite for BN when word came in that incumbent prime minister Najib Razak – had successfully defended his Pekan seat in Pahang.

But the bloodbath continued for the ruling coalition.

By 9.45pm, another four deputy ministers had landed on the scrapheap.

At about the same time, it emerged that Mahathir would make a return to parliament after winning his Langkawi seat.

The result throws into doubt Najib Razak's position in his party.

While he had been praised for his fiscal policies, he was also unpopular for rolling out a goods and services tax in addition to being a target of unwanted international attention over allegations funds were misappropriated from a state fund he advised, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He has denied any wrongdoing.



It was the controversy over the fund, however, that sparked Malaysia's longest serving prime minister's return to active politics after 22 years of retirement.

Mahathir had accused his former protege Najib of corruption and abuse of power before quitting UMNO to form his own party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

But at a press conference, Mahathir vowed: "We are not seeking revenge. We want to restore the rule of law."



As well as seizing control of the national government, several state legislatures across the country fell into opposition hands for the first time, including the highly symbolic bastion of Johor, the birthplace of Najib's party that was the lynchpin of the ruling coalition.



As it became clear that Mahathir had won, supporters took to the streets waving flags of the opposition alliance.

After polls closed earlier in the day, journalists had flocked to the headquarters of Najib's UMNO, but he failed to turn up to give a speech and the media were told to leave.

Huge numbers of voters earlier flocked to the polls across the country, despite Najib having called the election on a weekday in what critics said was a bid to keep turnout down.

The BN wipeout is a disaster for Najib, who had been under pressure to score an emphatic win after the government lost the popular vote for the first time at the last elections in 2013.
Mahathir Mohamad is sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia after leading the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition to victory in the May 9 general election. Outgoing Prime Minister Najib Razak pledges to assist with the transition of power.