Few doubt that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has ruled Malaysia for the six decades since independence, will triumph. But a robust challenge from the opposition - spearheaded by nonagenarian Mahathir Mohamad, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and his one-time protege Anwar Ibrahim - has produced a hotly contested election. The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing and local authorities have cleared him. Mahathir sacked Anwar as his deputy prime minister in 1998. Thomas Pepinsky, a Southeast Asia political expert at Cornell University, said that despite the unusual spectacle of a tight election in Malaysia, the outcome is in little doubt.

Source: bd News24 May 07, 2018 00:45 UTC