• Saturday’s election resulted in a hung parliament.
• Malaysia’s king is helping rival coalitions establish a new government.
• Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan alliance won 82 seats, 30 short of a 112-seat majority.

After Saturday’s election resulted in a hung parliament, Malaysia’s king is helping rival coalitions establish a new government.

Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan alliance won 82 seats, 30 short of a 112-seat majority.

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition won 73 seats.

King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah met with Anwar and Muhyiddin.

“Let me make a decision fast,” he told reporters Tuesday outside the national palace.

The king and Malaysian monarchy are explained.

King Sultan Abdullah

Malaysia’s Yang di-Pertuan Agong rotates among the country’s royal households.

Sultan Abdullah seized the throne after Sultan Muhammad V abruptly resigned.

Abdullah is from Pahang. He replaced his 88-year-old father as Pahang’s sixth sultan a week before becoming Agong.

The 59-year-old attended Sandhurst Military Academy in the UK. When he was younger, he played polo and football for his state. His official biography says he was president of the Football Association of Malaysia and on FIFA’s executive committee.

Since the election, how has the king participated?

Election results were revealed early Sunday.

It was the first hung parliament.

Anwar immediately proclaimed he had enough support for a majority in the house; Muhyiddin did the same.

The king gave the coalitions till Monday to create new alliances and submit them to the palace. Sultan Abdullah extended the deadline by 24 hours amid inconsistent pledges of support and a flurry of meetings.

Anwar and Muhyiddin met him at the palace after Tuesday’s deadline, but neither had won 112 seats.

The king proposed a “unity” administration between the multiethnic PH and conservative PN. Muhyiddin declined. Anwar told reporters he intended to build a strong, inclusive administration “regardless of race, religion, or geography.”

Barisan Nasional (BN), which ruled Malaysian politics until 2018, has emerged as the kingmaker since the election. With 30 seats, PH may establish a government.

Aligning with PN would assist that alliance to enter Putrajaya, the administrative capital.

The king met with all 30 BN delegates on Wednesday morning, as well as 23 GPS and 6 GPR members.

After the sessions, Sultan Abdullah said he would discuss the new government with the Conference of Rulers on Thursday morning.

Has the king ever elected PM?

Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy, hence the winning party or alliance forms the government. The party or coalition leader usually becomes PM.

The constitutional monarch’s function is advising, but he can select a prime minister he deems has the legislators’ confidence.

Since February 2020, when a power struggle led to the breakdown of the 2018 PH administration and Mahathir Mohamad’s resignation, this authority has been exercised twice.

Sultan Abdullah appointed Muhyiddin as head after a week of uncertainty.

Muhyiddin resigned in August 2021, and the monarch nominated Ismail Sabri Yaakob, deputy president of BN’s scandal-tainted UMNO, as prime minister. He urged lawmakers to declare who has the most support in the chamber.

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