Opposition win ends Malaysia party’s 60-year hold on power

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — An alliance of Malaysian opposition parties led by the country’s 92-year-old former authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad won a fiercely contested general election, ending the 60-year rule of the Malaydominated National Front.

The result is a political earthquake for Muslim-majority Malaysia, sweeping aside the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose reputation was tarnished by a corruption scandal and the imposition of a sales tax that hurt many of his coalition’s rural supporters.

It is also a surprising exception to backsliding on democratic values in Southeast Asia, a region of more than 600 million people where governments of countries including Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand have swung toward authoritarian rule.

Official results show the opposition parties, which banded together as the Alliance of Hope, surpassed the 112 seats needed for a majority in Parliament.

Mahathir in a televised address said a representative of Malaysia’s constitutional monarchy had contacted the opposition to acknowledge its win. A prime minister would be sworn in within a day, he said, which would make Mahathir the world’s oldest elected leader.

He said Thursday and Friday would be public holidays, another slap at Najib, who had promised holidays if his coalition won.

Mahathir