KUALA LUMPUR-(MaraviPost)-Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has resigned from office on Monday 24, February 2020.
Mahathir confirmed this in a two-line statement that he had informed the country’s king of his resignation at 1pm Kuala Lumpur time (05:00 GMT) on Monday.
In his statement, the prime minister made the decision to pave a way for a possible formation of a new government.
As reported by Reuters, Mahathir has also resigned from his own party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia following speculation that 94-year-old Mahathir was attempting to form a new ruling coalition that would exclude his promised successor, Anwar Ibrahim who accused the party of plotting to form a new government with the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the former ruling party ousted in 2018.
On sunday night, it is reported that the party together with some renegade members of Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR) and a slew of other Parliament members, including those from the opposition, UMNO, held talks in the outskirts of the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The meeting is believed to have fueled the party’s decision to quit the ruling government coalition, Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope).