Malaysia to Hold Early Election After Prime Minister Dissolves Parliament

An electronic shop worker watches a speech by Malaysia's new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on television in Shah Alam, Malaysia on Aug. 22, 2021. (Lai Seng Sin/AP Photo)

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has dissolved the country’s Parliament, paving the way for an early election amid calls from his ruling coalition to hold the vote ahead of the deadline due to infighting.

Ismail announced on Oct. 10 that he had obtained King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s approval to dissolve the current Parliament ahead of the expiration of its five-year term in July 2023.

The Malaysian Election Commission will determine the date of the 15th General Election (GE15), which must take place within 60 days of the dissolution of Parliament.

“With this announcement, the mandate will be returned to the people. The people’s mandate is a powerful antidote to manifest political stability and to form a strong, stable, and respected government after GE15,” Ismail said in a national address.

“The announcement of the parliament dissolution was made to put a stop to all the voices questioning the legitimacy of the alleged backdoor government,” he added, according to The Malaysian Reserve.

Ismail also called for the dissolution of state assemblies and to have state elections be held simultaneously with the GE15.

“It is only right for the state elections to be held simultaneously to ensure that the people will not be burdened, besides ensuring smooth democratic process and reducing the overall costs,” he said.

A total of 222 parliamentary seats will be contested in the GE15 to allow for the formation of a new government. Four of the country’s 13 states—including Sabah, Melaka, Sarawak, and Johor—had held elections earlier.

Ismail’s United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the biggest party in the ruling coalition, was feuding with its allies and opposition parties over its calls for elections during the monsoon season, which killed more than 50 people and displaced thousands last year.

But UMNO’s top leaders decided recently that elections must be called this year for UMNO to capitalize on the support of ethnic Malay voters, an opposition in disarray, and before an expected softening in the economy next year.

The 2023 Budget

The dissolution came after the government unveiled its planned 2023 budget on Oct. 7, which allocates 372 billion Malaysian ringgit ($80 billion) for 2023. The proposed budget is pending approval in Parliament.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has said that the 2023 budget could be tabled until after the elections, despite claims by critics that it would be futile if Parliament is dissolved before the budget is passed.

“This has happened before, you can refer back to what happened in 1999. The budget was presented and there was dissolution, and then the budget was represented again,” he told reporters, according to Malay Mail.

The country’s current political crisis began when the Pakatan Harapan, a reformist alliance led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, collapsed due to defections in February 2020.

That coalition was replaced by the Perikatan Nasional coalition led by then-Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned in August 2021 after losing the majority in Parliament. Ismail, who was Muhyiddin’s deputy, was appointed as his successor, returning the premiership to UMNO.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.