Malaysian PM Najib Razak wins a second term
07 May 2013
Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak has returned to power for a second five-year term as his National Front coalition (Barisan Nasional) won majority seats in the country's parliament on Sunday's closely watched general elections.
The National Front coalition won 133 seats or about 60 per cent votes in the 222-member parliament, while the opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyak led by Anwar Ibrahim won an impressive 89 seats, a gain of 7 seats, with 40 per cent votes.
According to observers, this was widely expected to be the most strongly contested general election in the country's history with a record voter turnout of over 80 per cent.
For the winner, it was the worst ever performance, well short of the two-thirds majority. In the 2008 elections, the ruling coalition had won 140 seats.
Despite the gain, the opposition leader rejected the poll results blaming the country's election commission for its failure to investigate voter fraud allegations.
The Malaysian-Chinese-based Democratic Action party emerged a big winner, gaining 10 seats in the parliament with its 38 seats. Other opposition parties Anwar Ibrahim's PKR won 30 seats while PAS got 21.
Although the National Front was credited with bringing economic development and political stability, its image was tarnished due to corruption charges.
The National Front gets their majority support from ethnic Malays United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), while the Chinese populations who make up a quarter of Malaysians are deserting the coalition for the opposition.
During his political campaigns, Najib said that the ruling coalition had proved it could ''protect and benefit all Malaysians''. ''The task of transformation is not over yet,'' he said.
The opposition leader Anwar had criticised the government for its semi-authoritarian rule of complete government control of the media, of strong arrogance, of power and endemic corruption.
He had said that people's desire for change would make his alliance victorious in the elections.
Coalitions led by UMNO have been in power since Malaysia became independent in 1957, and some were of the opinion that a change would be needed to achieve further economic progress and social harmony in the multi-ethnic nation.
Over the years, the National Front coalition government had implemented schemes to reduce Malays' poverty and devised plans for redistribution of the country's wealth.
Malay entrepreneurs get preferential access to government contracts, licences, franchises, technical assistance and reduced rent assistance besides tax incentives.
Both the ruling party and the opposition believe that the country needs to reform its policies favouring indigenous Malays to spur further economic growth.
The Kuala Lumpur stock market welcomed the election results and the bench mark index FBMKLCI gained 3.4 per cent on Monday.
