'Key consideration'

陈小将

'Key consideration'

Azmi Hassan, a senior research fellow at the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, told Xinhua News Agency in a phone interview: "As for the factors to be considered by voters, what they want is a strong government which has a solid majority. Political stability is a key consideration for voters who have grown weary over the frequent changes and general political instability."

He added: "It is also important that any government coming in must be able to deliver on economic rejuvenation as the country has suffered setbacks caused by the pandemic and now the global uncertainty due to the conflict in Ukraine which has in part driven up food prices and inflation."

The Malaysian political scene has been in turmoil over the past few years, marked by infighting among party members.

After Mahathir Mohamad, who ran under the Pakatan Harapan coalition in the 2018 elections, resigned from his post in 2020, he was succeeded by Muhyiddin Yassin. Muhyiddin is the founder of Parti Pribumi Bersatu and allied with UMNO to form the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

But Muhyiddin could barely hold a majority in the parliament. This fragile position, combined with accusations that he has mismanaged the pandemic, forced Muhyiddin to resign after just 18 months. He was replaced by Ismail Sabri.

"I personally didn't expect Ismail Sabri to cave in to the pressure within his party to call for an early election," said Azmil Tayeb, senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Awang Azman Awang Pawi, associate professor in the Academy of Malay Studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, said Malaysia's only "way out of unstable politics is to hand over the mandate to the people to choose".

Ismail Sabri said in a televised address on Monday that in line with Article 40 (20)(b) and Article 55(2) of the federal Constitution, Malaysian King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has "exercised his prerogative and granted my request for the 14th parliament to be dissolved today".

He said the parliament "paints a gloomy picture of the country's political landscape. Never before in history, has there been a change of three prime ministers and governments ruling alternately in the same term".