SINGAPORE: Recently, four political coalitions in Malaysia – Barisan Nasional, Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan and Gerakan Tanah Air : held large-scale meetings to prepare for the possible snap political election.
The following general election (GE) must be held just before September 2023 yet several quarters inside Excellent Minister Ismail Sabri Yaacob’s party, UMNO , demand it must be held quickly.
Ismail Sabri, however , contends that his ruling coalition needs more time. The next GE will likely witness three- and four-cornered arguements in many constituencies, with all the high likelihood that no single coalition can form the government as a standalone bloc. When no coalition may win the polls outright, the structure of the next government will likely be decided post-GE after serious bargaining among political events.
Since 2008, Malaysia’s dominant one-coalition system has effectively evolved into a two-coalition party system, using the main opposition parties’ Pakatan Rakyat, or People’s Coalition, eroding Barisan Nasional’s prominence over time.
In 2018, Pakatan Harapan outdid Barisan Nasional’s winning streak, securing power for the first time. Nevertheless , the Pakatan Harapan government crumbled within two years of its historical victory and was replaced by Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional. Still, the two-coalition system remained intact for several months, since Barisan Nasional had been subsumed under Perikatan Nasional.