Anwar mulls snap M'sia general election if coalition partner UMNO moves 'toward betrayal'

Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has threatened to call a snap general election if the unity government was to fracture even more.

Tensions between the various parts of the unity Madani government, comprising the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalitions has been rising in recent months.

This comes as Malaysia’s national unity government’s term, which began in November 2022, reaches its final two years and is due to hold fresh elections before February 2028.

The Johor State Legislative Assembly is in its final year, and will have to call for fresh elections before April 2027.

But election planning appears to be well underway.

Contesting Johor State Elections

On May 16, Johor Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Onn Hafiz Ghazi announced on social media that the BN Johor would contest all 56 seats in the upcoming state election, setting the stage for confrontation between the coalitions.

The Johor State Legislative Assembly is due to complete its term in February 2027, unless dissolved earlier.

Onn Hafiz said that he had discussed the contest with his own party UMNO, and their BN coalition partners.

On May 17, Anwar replied during the PH convention that his party would meet BN’s challenge by also contesting all of Johor’s seats.

Threats and betrayal

He questioned BN’s commitment to the unity government, with CNA quoting Anwar as saying that while he thus far taken a “constructive approach” in governing Malaysia, he warned that BN should not “threaten us or move towards betrayal.”

Anwar said that he was not “surprised” by BN’s Johor announcement, but that PH also had to be firm.

If BN were to “negotiate properly”, PH would remain “patient and wise”.

“But if they choose war - then we will fight seriously.”

Anwar said that he would, along with other PH component party leaders, consider calling a general election early. New elections are not due before February 2028.

The Star quoted Anwar as saying that “if they (BN) decided to go against the (unity government) agreements, then the elections will not only be in Johor and other states”, but also states such as Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Pahang, and Penang.

New general election?

With the government in its final two years of its term, speculation since the beginning of the year has been rife about the possibility of fresh elections, and how they might take shape.

Tensions between the two parties have been rising, and recently was given form in a scuffle over the Menteri Besar position in Negeri Sembilan, which saw BN assemblymen withdraw support from a PH MB.

UMNO, meanwhile, has been renewing calls for party unity, readmitting the former health minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, and defence minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, who had been expelled and suspended respectively.

Both men were punished by current UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the aftermath of worse-than-expected GE 2022 results, but have returned willingly, thanking Zahid for readmitting them.

The 2022 GE was preceded by Johor state elections, widely seen at the time as being a testing ground for BN’s general election strategy.

While it did not prove to be a fruitful testing ground, despite an overwhelming majority in Johor, BN did poorly in the GE. It appears that they are willing to make a second go of it.