Malaysia's veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad faced his first election defeat in 53 years on Saturday, marking the end of a seven-decade political career.

Mahathir, 97, who served as Malaysia's PM for more than two decades in two stints, failed to retain his parliamentary seat in the Langkawi island constituency, coming in fourth in a five-cornered fight.

Earlier today, Malaysians gathered in long queues at polling stations on Saturday to vote for the members of the Dewan Rakyat in the 15th Parliament of Malaysia. 

Since the Malaysian parliament passed a reform lowering the voting age to 18 in 2019, the electorate increased by 6 million. 

BFM News reported earlier today that the voter turnout reached 70% on Saturday at 4 pm.

This is the highest-ever turnout in the country's history despite that some polling stations had to shut down temporarily due to heavy monsoon rains, particularly in Baram, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo.

1. Voting for GE15 has ended with polling centres across the country closing at 6pm.

Voter turnout hit 70% as at 4pm, meaning that about 14.8 million votes had been cast. This is the highest ever recorded in Malaysia's history. pic.twitter.com/U4fEzDthOx

— BFM News (@NewsBFM) November 19, 2022

The political landscape is currently dominated by three political competitors: the current prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob of the Umno party, Anwar Ibrahim who leads the Pakatan Harapan party, and former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin who leads the Perikatan Nasional party.

A senior fellow at Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research (NASR),  Azmi Hassan, told The Guardian that young and first-time voters could play a crucial role in determining the electoral outcome.

"The problem is that we have no idea what their inclination is – whether they are anti-establishment or whether they are with the government, that is the Barisan Nasional, or whether they are with the independents."

As the voting age reform expanded the electorate with an additional 1.4 million voters, it is believed that this is the first time Malaysians under 40 make up the majority of the electorate. 

A few hours ago, early results from the Election Commission showed Muhyiddin Yassin is leading the elections, thus securing the Pagoh seat for the 7th time during his political career. 

https://t.co/Kop64XWsRM

OFFICIAL RESULTS

PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin has won Pagoh. #GE15 pic.twitter.com/E9PwlHKNWT

— malaysiakini.com (@malaysiakini) November 19, 2022

In recent years, the South East Asian country has experienced tumultuous episodes of instability, particularly in light of the government's failure to address the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also following a recent scandal that shocked the country over a case of corruption orchestrated by former Prime Minister Najib Razak.

On August 23, Malaysian prosecutors said some $4.5 billion were stolen from the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) state fund, which was co-founded in 2009 and was supposed to promote development when Najib Razak was PM.

Much of the money raised was allegedly embezzled. The US Justice Department says that some $2.7 billion of the $6.5 billion the Goldman Sachs Group (a global investment banking, securities and investment management firm) helped raise for 1MDB was stolen by people connected to Najib and diverted for bribes, a luxury yacht, fine art, and even funding for the Martin Scorsese film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Pakatan Harapan is credited for ousting the former Prime Minister who has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

But during Muhyiddin Yassin's mandate as Prime Minister from 2020 to 2021, the country suffered heavily from ensuing lockdown measures, which resulted in the loss of up to 2 million jobs in 2021, and caused real salaries to decrease by 9% in 2020 compared to 2019. 

Poverty further grew by 8.4% in 2020, meaning that about 2.4 million people fell below the poverty line. 

A recent survey published by Merdeka Center showed Anwar bin Ibrahim's coalition would win 82 seats. Partners in the caretaker government Perikatan Nasional (PN) would come in second with 43 seats, and ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) third with only 15 seats.

Anwar bin Ibrahim, the opposition leader and former deputy Prime Minister who leads the Pakatan Harapan, served a sentence on a sexual charge, which was widely criticized as politically motivated.

In 2018, bin Ibrahim was promised he would lead the country in a power-sharing deal, but the government collapsed before this could go into effect.

He promised to carry out institutional reforms, including limiting the Prime Minister’s tenure to 10 years, increasing economic competitiveness as the country struggles with rising inflation and a currency that has fallen to its weakest point, and making assistance needs-based rather than race-based.

“I am cautiously optimistic,” Anwar told reporters after casting his vote Saturday. “We can’t expect the country to progress if we do not affect meaningful change as a united Malaysian nation.”

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