Opposition alliance takes control in political earthquake
By EILEEN NG and STEPHEN WRIGHT, Associated Press
Published: May 9, 2018, 7:46pm
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Opposition party supporters cheer and wave their party flags on the road leading to Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia in Putrajaya, Malaysia, early Thursday, May 10, 2018. Unofficial results from Malaysia’s general election are showing a swing to the opposition. It remains unclear whether it is significant enough of a shift to end the ruling National Front’s 60-year hold on power. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf) Photo Gallery
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — An alliance of Malaysian opposition parties led by the country’s 92-year-old former authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad won a fiercely contested general election, ending the 60-year rule of the Malay-dominated National Front.
The result is a political earthquake for Muslim-majority Malaysia, sweeping aside the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose reputation was tarnished by a monumental corruption scandal and the imposition of an unpopular sales tax that hurt many of his coalition’s poor rural supporters.
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