KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia’s longest-running political party has regained the presidency it lost in a shock election defeat in 2018, after the king on Friday nominated its candidate, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, as the new leader of the country.
Ismail was the deputy prime minister under the government of Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned on Monday after less than 18 months in office as his coalition fights won him majority support.
Ismail’s appointment essentially restores Muhyiddin’s alliance. It also recovers the rule of the United Malaysia National Organization, which had led Malaysia since Britain’s independence in 1957, but which was ousted in the 2018 elections by a multimillion-dollar financial scandal.
King Sultan Abdullah, Sultan Ahmad Shah, said Ismail had secured the support of 114 lawmakers for a slim majority. Ismail, 61, will be sworn in as Malaysia’s ninth prime minister on Saturday.
The announcement came after the monarch met with Malaysian state rulers who advised him on the appointment. The king’s role is mostly ceremonial in Malaysia, but he appoints the person he believes has the majority support in Parliament as prime minister.
Sultan Abdullah said in a statement that he hopes Ismail’s appointment will put an end to the country’s political turmoil. He urged lawmakers to put aside their political differences and unite to deal with the country’s worsening pandemic.
“Ismail’s appointment was not unexpected. With that, UMNO is back in the driver’s seat, ”said James Chin, an Asian expert at the Australian University of Tasmania.
Ismail’s 114 votes outnumber the 111 needed for a simple majority, but they come close to the support Muhyiddin had and was unable to maintain. Ismail is from UMNO, the largest party in the alliance, which leaves him on firmer ground, but he still needs Muhyiddin’s party to gain enough support to lead him.
Angry Malaysians had launched an online petition to protest Ismail’s candidacy, with more than 340,000 signatures collected so far. Many believe Ismail’s election will restore the status quo, with his failed perception of a response to a worsening pandemic.
Malaysia has one of the highest infection and per capita death rates in the world, despite a seven-month state of emergency and a closure since June. New daily infections have more than doubled since June to a new record of 23,564 on Friday, bringing the total to more than 1.5 million cases. Deaths have risen above 13,000.
A lawyer before joining politics, Ismail held various ministerial positions in previous UMM governments. In 2015, as Commerce Minister, Ismail pursued controversy when he urged Malaysian ethnic consumers to boycott profitable Chinese companies. He was also criticized for supporting the vaping industry, which is dominated by Malaysians, despite health warnings from the health ministry.
In the 2018 polls, Ismail waved the racial card and warned that every vote in favor of the opposition was similar to the removal of special privileges granted to Malays under a decades-long affirmative action program. antiquity.
Ismail was appointed defense minister when Muhyiddin took power in March 2020 and became the public face of the government through daily briefings on pandemic-related security issues. He was promoted to deputy prime minister in July, while Muhyiddin was trying to support UMO support, which was unhappy in playing the second violin in Muhyiddin’s smaller party.
Ismail defeated opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the three-party alliance is the largest opposition bloc with 88 votes. Even if all opposition parties support him, he still does not come with 105 votes.