“This shows that supporters of the country’s main parties are able to accept the cooperation in the unity government,” Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, secretary-general of BN lynchpin, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), wrote on Facebook late Saturday. The former long-time rivals had joined forces in November 2022 to back Anwar after the general election resulted in a hung parliament.
Malaysia’s ruling coalition scored a landslide victory in a by-election on Saturday, with party leaders hailing it as a sign of long-term political stability and public acceptance of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.
Barisan Nasional, a key ally of Anwar, won 79% of the votes in a straight fight against the Perikatan Nasional opposition pact in Mahkota, a constituency in the southern state of Johor, according to the Election Commission. Its winning margin jumped four-fold compared to the last provincial vote, helped by a post-general-election tie-up with Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan alliance.
