MALAYSIA WILL HOLD ELECTIONS AFTER PANDEMIC IS OVER, PM YASSIN

Sat 28 November 2020:

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that Malaysia will hold a general election when the novel coronavirus pandemic is over.

Malaysian parliament passed the largest-ever budget by a voice vote on Thursday despite weeks of threats by the opposition and some of Muhyiddin’s allies to derail the government’s 2021 spending plan, which could have triggered a crisis.

“God willing, when COVID-19 is over, we will hold a general election,” Muhyiddin said in a speech at a virtual annual general meeting of his Bersatu party.

“We will return the mandate to the people and leave it to them to choose which government they want.”

Muhyiddin’s eight-month-old administration has clung on with a two-seat majority in Parliament, managing to fend off a leadership challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and contain growing dissent in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest bloc in his coalition.

Malaysia is facing a new wave of coronavirus infections, with cumulative cases rising more than four-fold since September to more than 60,000 as of Friday.