Anwar Ibrahim Declared Malaysia's New Prime Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Thursday announced Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the country's 10th Prime Minister. The announcement from Istana Negara (National Palace) came after the Malay Rulers convened a special meeting on Thursday morning to break the political impasse and resolve the hung Parliament scenario after the 15th General Election (GE15) last Saturday. Anwar, 75, is expected to be sworn in at 5 pm Thursday at lstana Negara. The king also wanted all the elected representatives to overcome their differences for the sake of the nation's future. The GE15 resulted in a hung Parliament, with no party or coalition winning at least 112 seats of the 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat. Pakatan Harapan (PH) led by Anwar won 82 seats, Perikatan Nasional-PN (73), Barisan Nasional-BN (30); Gabungan Parti Sarawak- GPS (23); Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-GRS (six); Warisan (three); Independent (two), and one each by Parti Bangsa Malaysia-PBM and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM). It has been a long road for Anwar, who was sacked from the ruling party BN in 1998 following a fallout with then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad under whom he served as deputy. -- BERNAMA