Mahathir Mohamad: Former Malaysian Prime Minister loses his seat after a surprising defeat | News

The 97-year-old statesman in Malaysian politics has lost his parliamentary seat – the first electoral defeat in 53 years.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad lost his parliamentary seat in Saturday’s general election, likely to end the career of one of Asia’s most enduring politicians.

The country’s election commission said on Saturday that Mahathir finished fourth in a five-way battle in his long-running constituency on the resort island of Langkawi.

“It’s a great surprise that he doesn’t just have it [Mahathir] “He lost, but he lost in spectacular fashion,” said Al Jazeera’s Florence Lowe, from outside Kuala Lumpur.

Not only did he lose his seat, he lost his deposit because he could not get more than one-eighth of the votes cast. Also, his party did not succeed in winning a single seat.

It was the 97-year-old’s first electoral defeat in more than half a century. He served as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003.

He returned to politics two years ago in the wake of a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. Mahathir held the Guinness World Records for being the “world’s oldest sitting prime minister” when he became prime minister in 2018, just two months before his 93rd birthday.

“Crooks or Jailbird”

Visibly slowing with age but still healthy, Mahathir ran this time under his own Homeland Fighters Party and scoffed at suggestions he should retire, telling reporters ahead of the election that he had a “good chance” of winning.

Mahathir said, “I still stand and talk to you, I think, and give reasonable answers.”

He added that his party would not form any alliances with parties led by “crooks or prisoners” – an apparent reference to the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaqub’s ruling Barisan National Coalition – dominated by his UMNO party – has lost ground to rival coalitions led by former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Tainted with corruption, the Barisan National Alliance, which ruled Malaysia from its independence from Britain until 2018, could still return to power depending on the post-election alliances.

Mahathir has been criticized for ruling the Southeast Asian country with an iron fist from 1981 to 2003, but he has also been lauded for helping turn the country from a sleepy doldrums into one of the world’s largest exporters of high-tech goods.

His long leadership provided political stability, earning him the nickname “Father of Modern Malaysia” as he oversaw the construction of highways and industrial parks in the 1980s and 1990s.

Mahathir’s reformist PKH Harapan alliance scored a stunning victory over UMNO and Najib, who was later convicted of corruption and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence.

Mahathir became prime minister again, but his government collapsed in less than two years due to infighting.

He warned that Najib would be released if the jailed politician’s allies in the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) win.

He also offered to become prime minister for the third time, but observers said he had no chance from the start.

His titanic clashes with opposition leader Anwar, his former heir with whom he was bitterly at loggerheads, have dominated and shaped Malaysian politics for the past two decades.

In the end, age was his biggest opponent.

“Mahatir’s time has passed,” Bridget Welsh of Malaysia’s University of Nottingham told AFP earlier this month before the election.