Mahathir Seeks Urgent Confidence Vote on New Malaysia Leader

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad will seek an urgent parliament sitting to show that he has the majority support among lawmakers to become prime minister instead of Muhyiddin Yassin, who’s set to be sworn in as premier.

Mahathir reiterated on Sunday morning that he had the backing of 114 lawmakers, more than the 112 required for a majority in parliament, and had sought an audience with the country’s king to explain the situation. The monarch on Saturday had named Muhyiddin as Malaysia’s next leader, and he will be sworn in at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

“The law says that the king may choose someone who is believed has the support of the majority as the prime minister,” Mahathir said to reporters in Kuala Lumpur. “But when that prime minister goes to parliament and parliament rejects it, then he cannot be prime minister. That is the law.”

The Pakatan Harapan government imploded last week, less than halfway through its term, after a power struggle boiled over and Mahathir resigned. The king made him interim prime minister while trying to end the crisis.

The coalition on Saturday rallied around Mahathir once again, in an attempt to counter Muhyiddin, who had the support of parties on the other side of the aisle. While Mahathir claims he has the support of the majority of lawmakers, some that he listed late Saturday have since denied they are backing him.

Parliament is set to convene on March 9.

“The next move for us is whether we can show we have no confidence in him,” Mahathir said. “We are going to ask for an urgent sitting of parliament. At that urgent sitting, we will see who has the majority.”