Malaysia's parliament fails to pass constitutional amendment limiting prime minister's term

In a surprise development, the Malaysian Parliament on March 2 failed to pass a constitutional amendment Bill to limit the prime minister's tenure to 10 years – one of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s reform promises in an attempt to regain support among urban voters. [ . . . ] Mr Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition had pledged to introduce a term limit for the prime minister in its manifesto for the 2022 General Election, aiming to curb the “damage” caused by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who remained in power for 22 years until 2003, before returning for a second stint of 22 months from 2018 to 2020 – the longest tenure in Malaysian history. According to the Constitution, the prime minister can serve as long as he commands majority support in the Lower House of Parliament. Parliamentary opposition leader Hamzah Zainuddin earlier argued that the proposed term limit may infringe on the constitutional discretion of the king in appointing a prime minister whom he believes commands the confidence of the majority of MPs.
Read the full article here: The Straits Times