Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob of Malaysia has formally dissolved the Malaysian parliament, known locally as GE / PRU 15. Thus, the Malaysian election season has officially begun.
The Star reports that a general election must now be held within 60 days. The Election Commission will now publish the dates for nominations and voting.
On October 6, Ismail Sabri met with the king of Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The recent general election, GE14, took place on May 9, 2018.
It resulted in the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) gaining power and the incumbent coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) losing power for the first time since Malaysia's independence.
Since then, there have been two prime minister changes, with a breakaway section of PH joining UMNO, the key component of the BN alliance, in February 2020 to form a ruling coalition. Bersatu's Muhyiddin Yassin succeeded Mahathir Mohamad.
Then, in 2021, the political balance shifted, allowing UMNO to assume control of the government under the leadership of Ismail Sabri.
Since then, groups within UMNO, led by the current party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, have allegedly advocated for a fresh general election. Ismail Sabri has not done so, however, until recently.
According to Malaysian politician James Chin, who was interviewed by Free Malaysia Today, this might be due to a split in party unity between what has been known as the "court cluster" of UMNO members facing corruption charges and the "government cluster" of party members in government.
The next national election must occur before to September 2023.
According to CNA, Ismail Sabri has gotten the king's approval to dissolve parliament. Consequently, the next general election will take place within the following sixty days.
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