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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia \u2014 Malaysia\u2019s Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as prime minister on Thursday, capping a three-decade\u00a0political journey\u00a0from a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad to protest leader, a prisoner convicted of sodomy and opposition leader.<\/p>\n
His appointment ends five days of unprecedented post-election crisis, but could usher in a new instability with his rival, former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, challenging him to prove his majority in Parliament.<\/p>\n
Both men failed to win a majority in a Saturday election, but the constitutional monarch, King Al-Sultan Abdullah, appointed Anwar after speaking to several lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Anwar takes over at a challenging time: The economy is slowing and the country is divided after a tight election that pitted Anwar\u2019s progressive coalition against Muhyiddin\u2019s mostly conservative ethnic-Malay, Muslim alliance.<\/p>\n
Anwar, 75, has time and again been denied the premiership despite getting within striking distance over the years: He was deputy prime minister in the 1990s and the official prime minister-in-waiting in 2018.<\/p>\n
In between, he spent nearly a decade in jail for sodomy and corruption in what he says were politically motivated charges aimed at ending his career.<\/p>\n
The uncertainty over the election threatened to prolong political instability in the Southeast Asian country, which has had three prime ministers in as many years, and risks delaying policy decisions needed to foster economic recovery.<\/p>\n
Anwar\u2019s coalition, known as Pakatan Harapan, won the most seats in Saturday\u2019s vote with 82, while Muhyiddin\u2019s Perikatan Nasional bloc won 73. They need 112 \u2014 a simple majority \u2014 to form a government.<\/p>\n
The long-ruling Barisan bloc won only 30 seats, the worst electoral performance for a coalition that had dominated politics since independence in 1957.<\/p>\n
Barisan said on Thursday it would not support a government led by Muhyiddin, though it did not make any reference to Anwar.<\/p>\n
Muhyiddin\u2019s bloc includes the Islamist party PAS, whose electoral gains raised concern in a country with significant ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities, most of whom follow other faiths.<\/p>\n
As premier, Anwar will have to address soaring inflation and slowing growth, while calming the ethnic tensions.<\/p>\n
The most immediate issue will be the budget for next year, which was tabled before the election was called but has yet to be passed.<\/p>\n
Anwar will also have to negotiate agreements with lawmakers from other blocs to ensure he can retain majority support in Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnwar is appointed at a\u00a0critical juncture<\/a>\u00a0in Malaysian history, where politics is most fractured, recovering from a depressed economy and a bitter COVID memory,\u201d said James Chai, visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.<\/p>\n