Malaysian PM accepts general elections result
Kuala Lumpur, May 10: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday said that he accepted the result of the general elections, which saw his ruling coalition lose to the opposition led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Stopping short of admitting defeat, Najib said that the King will have to decide on the next Prime Minister, reports Efe news.
After the counting of votes, the EC confirmed a historic victory for the opposition, led by Mahathir, 92, which defeated the ruling coalition which had been in power since the country's independence.
Official results show that the opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) has won 113 of total 222 seats - crossing the required majority of 112 - while the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) managed to get just 79 seats.
The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) emerged as the third biggest force with 18 seats.
The EC published the first results in early hours of Thursday after not giving any information for many hours, while unofficial sources had started reporting the opposition's victory by Wednesday night.
In his first statement after victory, Mahathir told his supporters that his objective was to re-establish the rule of law after the corruption scandals that characterised Najib's term.
Mahathir, who was the longest-serving prime minister of the country between 1981-2003, was Najib's patron in the beginning of the latter's political career, but returned from retirement to defeat his former protege.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
