Malaysia's long-ruling coalition wins elections as turnout hits record...

Malaysia's ruling party won an outright majority to extend its 56 year grip on power on Sunday as record numbers flocked to the polls in the country hotly contested polls.

Officials said around 80 per cent of the country’s 13.3 million registered voters turned out to vote. Late on Sunday the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), led by Najib Rajak, the prime minister, had won the 112 seats need for a majority, more than double the three-party opposition’s 58.

Tension was palpable in Kuala Lumpur as the final results, contradicted a claim on Twitter from opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister that his challenge had overturned one of Asia’s most entrenched parties of power.

 Monitoring groups including Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, known as Bersih, said an “improvement in the conduct of the election” despite a number of “major issues,” according to a preliminary report. Full story...

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