VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Malaysia is about to hold general elections on Saturday (19 November 2022). More than 21 million people are eligible to vote for 945 candidates who are ready to compete for 222 parliamentary seats in Malaysia.

Malaysia is going to hold general elections one year ahead of schedule. Malaysian Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob admitted that he  asked for the election to be held sooner to silence criticism about the legitimacy of his government.

Malaysia has indeed experienced unresolved political turmoil after the dissolution of Mahathir Mohamad's government. Since then, attempts to form a new government have been made twice. But both failed to achieve political stability. Accelerated general elections are considered as a solution to get a new government from the people.

There are three major coalitions competing in Malaysia's general elections this time. They are the main coalition of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob; coalition of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim; and the coalition of former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Analysts argue that no single coalition is expected to be able to secure a majority to form a new government. Heikal Rosnan from Bower Group Asia, as quoted from voaindonesia (16/11) argues that a very possible scenario from the results of the Malaysian elections this time is that no coalition has enough seats to be able to form a government.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Suffian, Executive Director of the Merdeka Center said, the presence of three significant coalitions with a large base of support makes it difficult to estimate the outcome in terms of the projected number of parliamentary seats.

It is hoped that in the November 19 elections, one of the coalitions will be able to win a majority of seats to form a new strong government. If no single coalition is able to win a majority of seats, they will bargain with each other and try to form a new coalition. It is estimated, such a coalition is not strong enough to form a stable government.