Malaysia’s prime minister on Monday announced the dissolution of parliament and allowed early elections aimed at bringing political stability as the country emerges from Covid-19 and the 1MDB corruption scandal.
“Yesterday I met the King… and I asked his permission to dissolve Parliament. And the king approved my motion to dissolve parliament today,” Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a televised address to the nation.
“I hope people will use their votes wisely to vote for stability, economic growth and harmony in the country,” he said, referring to the mainly Muslim but multi-ethnic Southeast Asian nation.
He made the announcement a day after an audience with the king, Sultan Abdullah, who gave his approval.
No date has been given for an election, but the constitution requires elections to be held within 60 days of the dissolution of parliament.
The breakup came days after the government unveiled a populist budget that included billions of dollars in cash and a cut in personal income taxes.
Elections were not scheduled to take place until September next year, but Ismail has faced intense pressure from his party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), to dissolve parliament and secure a strong mandate in early elections.
Malaysia has been in political turmoil since the last national elections in 2018, when a reformist pact spearheaded by ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad overwhelmingly defeated an alliance led by the UMNO, the main party that ruled the country for more than 60 years .
Then incumbent Najib Razak, who was embroiled in a scandal that allegedly looted billions of dollars from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, was removed as prime minister.
He was later convicted of corruption after a lengthy trial and served a 12-year prison sentence on the first count in August.
However, hopes for stability after Najib’s fall quickly faded when Mahathir’s government collapsed after 22 months due to bitter power struggles.
He was succeeded by his former right-hand man Muhyiddin Yassin, but growing public anger at his handling of the pandemic forced him to resign less than two years after taking office, and Ismail was named Malaysia’s new leader.
