Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad to be sworn-in as PM after historic poll win

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has won a historc victory making him the olderst as well as the longest serving Prime Minister in Malaysia.

Mahathir, 92, defeated the Barisan Nasional coalition, which has been in power 60 years.With all 222 seats in the country's Parliament accounted for, Mahathir's coalition had officially won 121 seats -- enough to form a simple majority and take control of the House. Barisan Nasional, in contrast, only had 79 seats -- a far cry from the 133 it won in the 2013 election.

Mahathir led the Southeast Asian nation for 22 years and his unexpected return to the prime ministership ends the previously unbroken rule of Barisan Nasional (BN), the coalition that had governed Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957.

"We are not seeking revenge ... what we want is to restore the rule of law," Mahathir said of Najib's scandal-plagued rule.

The swearing-in ceremoney will be held on Thursday which has been marked as a public holiday in Malaysia, the government announced.

Najib is also expected to address the media at 9.45 a.m. local time (0145 GMT). He has not spoken publicly since the results were declared but a member of his Cabinet said they would accept the will of the people.

Najib had been under massive pressure in the run up to the elections, chiefly due to long-running allegations of corruption and misappropriation of money from a state fund, known as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, but also because of deeply unpopular moves such as the introduction of a goods and services tax (GST), which many Malaysians feel has caused the cost of living to spike sharply.

The stunning election outcome was expected to ruffle financial markets that were expecting a comfortable win for Najib and the BN.

In the previous election, in 2013, the opposition made unprecedented gains, winning the popular vote, but it failed to win enough seats to form a government.

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Mahathir's alliance, which counts on urban votes and support from the minority ethnic Chinese and Indian communities, had hoped the veteran Malay leader would win over voters usually loyal to BN. That strategy appeared to have paid off.

Official results showed that Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) won 113 of parliament's 222 seats, clinching the simple majority required to rule. Najib's BN coalition only managed 79 seats.

Mahathir has promised to reverse a goods and services tax (GST) introduced by Najib during his first 100 days in power and review foreign investments.

Global ratings agency Moody's said some of his campaign promises, including the GST and a reintroduction of fuel subsidies, could be credit negative for Malaysia's sovereign debt rating.

Mahathir was once Najib's mentor but they clashed after differences over the 1MDB graft scandal, in which billions of dollars were allegedly siphoned off to foreign countries.

The scandal is being investigated by at least six countries, although Malaysia's attorney general cleared Najib of any wrongdoing.

Mahathir vowed to investigate the scandal if elected and to bring the funds back to Malaysia.

Asked on Thursday if Najib would be prosecuted, Mahathir said: "If anybody breaks the law, and that includes a journalist, they will be brought before the court."

Mahathir must now manage a fractious alliance of four parties and make way for jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to become the next prime minister, another former protege with whom he split acrimoniously before reuniting to topple Najib.

"I have to manage presidents of four different parties. It's going to be a headache," Mahathir told reporters.