Malaysian king rejects Mahathir's call as turmoil deepens

Malaysia is witnessing a political turmoil after Mahathir Mohamad stepped down as the Prime Minister. The palace will continue to engage with leaders of political parties for their lawmakers to voice their preferred candidate for next Prime Minister.

Kuala Lumpur: The political impasse in Malaysia is nowhere closer to being resolved as Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah on Friday decided not to call for a special parliamentary session next week to choose a Prime Minister.

Declaring that the King did not have the confidence that any member of parliament had majority support to form a new government, the palace, in a statement said, "The palace will continue to engage with leaders of political parties for their lawmakers to voice their preferred candidate for Prime Minister."

Malaysia is witnessing a political turmoil after Mahathir Mohamad stepped down as the Prime Minister on Monday.

His move shattered the fragile Pakatan Harapan coalition with Mahathir's on-off rival Anwar Ibrahim that secured a surprise election victory nearly two years ago over the corruption-tainted Barisan Nasional government that had ruled since the country's independence.

Bersatu, Mahathir's Malaysian United Indigenous Party has further extended support to party President Muhyiddin Yassin to be the country's eighth Prime Minister.

Mahathir was subsequently appointed as caretaker premier by the King who proceeded to interview members of Malaysia's 222-strong Parliament to assess who had the support of the majority.

On Thursday, Mahathir said that a special session of Parliament would be called on Monday and if lawmakers were not able to decide, snap polls would be called.

(With inputs from ANI)