Mahathir defeats Najib in ‘historic’ Malaysian election

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has secured a shock victory in the Malaysian election, defeating incumbent PM Najib Razak and putting an end to the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s 60-year-rule.

In what the BBC describes as an ‘historic’ election, Mahathir’s opposition alliance won 115 seats, over the threshold of 112 seats needed to form a government.

Najib said in a televised media conference that he accepted the “choice of the people”, ABC News reports, indicating that the result will not be contested.

Mahathir has said he expects to be sworn in today. The Malaysian king has granted him an audience at 5pm local time, Bloomberg reports.