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Close Election Unsettles Malaysia Close Election Leaves Malaysian Premier’s Fate Uncertain
(about 3 hours later)
KUALA LUMPUR — As fallout continued Monday from the Malaysian national elections, analysts said Prime Minister Najib Razak’s position was far from secure despite the victory of the governing coalition, which failed to win a majority of the popular vote. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Though it held on to power in the election on Sunday, the governing National Front coalition suffered an important loss: for the first time in 44 years, it failed to win more than 50 percent of the popular vote. Analysts said it left Prime Minister Najib Razak’s position far from secure.
Mr. Najib and his National Front coalition, which has governed Malaysia since the country gained independence in 1957, retained power in the Sunday voting, which gave them 133 seats in the 222-member Parliament. The news prompted Malaysian stocks to surge nearly 8 percent to a record high Monday and the ringgit to jump to its highest rate in 20 months. Mr. Najib and his National Front coalition, which has governed Malaysia since independence in 1957, won 133 of the 222 seats in Parliament on Sunday, aided by favorably drawn district boundaries. News of the victory prompted Malaysian stocks to surge nearly 8 percent on Monday, and the country’s currency, the ringgit, jumped in value.
But the coalition lost seven seats to the three-party opposition People’s Alliance, which won a record 89 races. More surprising, analysts said, was that the coalition received less than 50 percent of the popular vote for the first time since 1969, though it kept its parliamentary majority because of redistricting dating from 2003. Both had been depressed by signs that the National Front was in greater danger of losing power than ever before. As it was, the three-party opposition People’s Alliance took seven seats from the National Front, extending the gains it made in the last election in 2008, when the Front lost the two-thirds majority that had allowed it to amend the Constitution at will. The 2008 vote hastened the resignation of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister the next year, giving way to Mr. Najib.
It was the second consecutive election in which the National Front’s tally in both total seats and the popular vote fell, after decades of noncompetitive elections. In 2008, the National Front lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time since the 1960s to the opposition, led by Anwar Ibrahim; that hastened the resignation of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister the following year in favor of Mr. Najib. The leader of the People’s Alliance, Anwar Ibrahim, said Monday that the latest election was marred by fraud and that his coalition would challenge the results of some races.
Mr. Anwar on Monday repeated claims that the election was marred by fraud and said his coalition would challenge the results of some of the races. Mr. Najib was sworn in for a five-year term on Monday at the National Palace, though analysts said the electoral victory did nothing to burnish his leadership mandate.
Mr. Najib, 59, was sworn in Monday at the National Palace for a second term, which will be for five years. But while he did win his first electoral mandate, analysts said his position was anything but safe, given the rejection of the coalition by more than half of the voters. “The prime minister has been strategizing and campaigning for this day for many years,” said Karim Raslan, a Malaysian newspaper columnist and political observer. “Many in the ruling elite will look at the results and ask, ‘Is that all?’ ”
“The prime minister has been strategizing and campaigning for this day for many years,” said Karim Raslan, a Malaysian newspaper columnist and political observer. “Many in the ruling elite will look at the results and ask, ‘Is that all?”’ The huge turnout in the election — 80 percent, a record — broke along racial lines that analysts said would be troublesome for Mr. Najib. The country’s Malay majority, concentrated in the countryside, voted for the governing coalition in greater numbers than in 2008. Chinese-Malaysian voters overwhelmingly backed the opposition, including the Democratic Action Party, which is dominated by ethnic Chinese.
The election Sunday, which drew a record voter turnout of 80 percent, also exposed voting patterns along racial lines that analysts said would be troublesome for Mr. Najib, who initiated a national government program in 2010 to emphasize ethnic and religious harmony as well as government efficiency. While the country’s rural Malay majority voted for the governing coalition in greater numbers than in 2008, Chinese-Malaysian voters overwhelmingly backed the opposition, which includes the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party. Mr. Najib, 59, told reporters early on Monday that he had not expected that trend. But Lim Teck Ghee, head of the Center for Policy Initiatives in Kuala Lumpur, said the prime minister “needs to play to the Malay gallery even after the election has been won,” to keep rivals at bay in his own party, the United Malays National Organization, which dominates the 13-member National Front.
At a news conference early Monday morning after the results were announced, Mr. Najib acknowledged that he had not expected that trend, which he categorized as a “Chinese tsunami.” Mr. Anwar, 65, the opposition leader, is a former deputy prime minister who was ousted from the organization in a 1998 party struggle and was later imprisoned. He said Monday that the People’s Alliance would challenge the announced results in 30 to 40 races he said were tainted by fraud, and would begin holding rallies this week, calling for the ruling coalition to hand over power peacefully.
But Lim Teck Ghee, head of the Center for Policy Initiatives in Kuala Lumpur, said Mr. Najib’s hold on power was tenuous because large numbers of Malay and other non-Chinese voters had also rejected the National Front, which was reflected in its popular vote tally dropping to 47 percent from 51 percent in 2008. “We want the unique experience of transitions through elections, and not Tahrir Square,” he said, referring to the mass protests in Cairo that brought down President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011.
“Najib knows this, but needs to play to the Malay gallery even after the election has been won to keep his enemies within U.M.N.O. at bay,” Mr. Lim said, referring to the United Malay National Organization, which dominates the 13-member National Front.
Mr. Anwar, 65, the opposition leader, will also have some tough decisions to make in light of the results — mainly on how to challenge them. A former U.M.N.O. leader and deputy prime minister who was ousted in a 1998 party struggle and later imprisoned, Mr. Anwar has dedicated his political career to driving the coalition out of power and becoming prime minister.
In an interview Monday, Mr. Anwar repeated claims that the election was tainted by fraud that cost the opposition the seats that would have put it in power. He said the People’s Alliance would challenge the results for between 30 and 40 seats and begin holding rallies this week to protest the results.
“We have always called for a peaceful transition,” Mr. Anwar said.
“We want the unique experience of transitions through elections and not Tahrir Square,” he said, referring to the site of mass protests in Cairo that brought down President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in 2011. “Regrettably, the U.M.N.O. clique has subverted that by cheating in the elections and denying us using that option. So we’re left with the alternative of going back to the people, but still, our view is to avoid the streets and have public rallies in an orderly manner and that people are able to express themselves.”
“We have to give a clear message to Najib that there’s a limit to people’s patience, and never underestimate the capacity of people to move and demand,” Mr. Anwar said. “After all, what are we demanding? We are demanding free and fair elections.”“We have to give a clear message to Najib that there’s a limit to people’s patience, and never underestimate the capacity of people to move and demand,” Mr. Anwar said. “After all, what are we demanding? We are demanding free and fair elections.”
The 15-day election campaign was bitterly contested and marred by violence and charges of vote-rigging. Mr. Anwar’s campaign, as well as independent election monitors, accused the government of deploying tens of thousands of “phantom voters,” including foreign laborers from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Myanmar who work in eastern Malaysia, to vote using illegal identity cards. Opposition workers and independent election monitors have accused the government of a host of vote-rigging tactics, including stacking the election commission with partisans, marshaling foreign laborers to vote using illegal identity cards and marking the voters’ fingers with supposedly indelible ink that could easily be wiped off.
They also complained that the election commission was not independent, that irregularities were detected in early voting by 200,000 police officers and military personnel, and that the indelible ink applied to voters’ fingers to prevent them from casting multiple ballots could be easily wiped off. “These reports have led us to question the legitimacy of some of the results,” Ambiga Sreenevasan, head of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, said Monday. The group demanded an investigation and called on the election commission to resign.
“These reports have led us to question the legitimacy of some of the results,” Ambiga Sreenevasan, chairwoman of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, said Monday. The group demanded an immediate investigation of possible polling irregularities and called on the election commission to resign.