Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian opposition minister appointed as Prime Minister

Kuala Lumpur: According to the sultan's palace, Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was named prime minister on Thursday and will take office at 5 p.m. (0900 GMT).

A historic hung parliament resulted from the general election on Saturday, with neither of the two main alliances—one led by Anwar and the other by former premier Muhyiddin Yassin—being able to win enough members in the house to form a government right away, Reuters reported.

Anwar's appointment marks the culmination of a three-decade journey that saw him go from heir apparent to sodomy prisoner to longstanding opposition leader.

A number of times over the years, the 75-year-old has come close to winning the premiership: he served as deputy prime minister in the 1990s and was formally named prime minister-in-waiting in 2018.

In the interim, he spent over ten years in prison on sodomy and corruption charges that, in his opinion, were politically motivated attempts to terminate his career.