(27 Feb 2020) Malaysia's interim leader Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that Parliament will pick a new prime minister next week following the collapse of the ruling alliance, and that snap elections would be called if the vote ends in an impasse.
Mahathir, who met the country's king earlier on Thursday, said the monarch could not find a candidate with a clear majority to lead the nation after consulting all 222 lawmakers over the last two days.
As such, he said the king decided to have the lower house of Parliament vote on a new leader on March 2.
“If the Dewan Rakyat (lower house) fails to find a person with the majority, then we will have to go for a snap election," he told a news conference in Putrajaya.
A failed bid by Mahathir's supporters to form a new government without his designated successor, Anwar Ibrahim, and Mahathir's shock resignation on Monday, broke apart the ruling alliance less than two years after it defeated a corruption-tainted coalition that had led the country for 61 years.
Both Mahathir and Anwar are vying for the premiership, renewing a political feud that stretches back more than two decades.
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