Snap Elections! After Hari Raya

OPINION | Snap Elections! After Hari Raya


24 Feb 2026 • 7:00 PM MYT



Koo Wee Hon
Wacky retiree writing abt sanity, democracy, the environment, fun & travel

GE16-Snap election after Hari Raya. Credit -ChatGPT AI generated.


If ever there was a good time for Anwar Ibrahim to call for a snap election, it will be after Hari Raya. Here are the whys and wherefores.

Bersatu is a broken party with the sacking of Hamzah who claims to have the support of 19 Bersatu MPs out of 25. It will take a long time for Bersatu to recover and regroup , likely not in time for a snap election this year.

PAS is rudderless with an unwell and lackluster Hadi and lacks any other capable leaders of note to take over. They rely on outsiders like Hamzah to voice their policies and debate with the government.

DAP’s special congress on 12 July to decide of its role in government. With about three months after Hari Raya, there is enough time to dissolve Parliament and call for elections and preempt the decision. Going by the Sabah elections, DAP could be for a hiding again.

Redelineation exercise for Sabah and Sarawak by the Election Commission is due after March 2026 and could likely increase east Malaysian states. This could spell problems of concocting a simple majority for Anwar so he has to move for a snap election before the redelineated seats are passed in Parliament.

Melaka, Sarawak and Johor are widely speculated to have state elections earlier in 2026. Anwar would not want a repeat of the Sabah election. To avoid another embarrassing and disastrous defeat, he will have to call for national elections before these states.

UMNO will be launching a fresh appeal to the Agung in 2026 for Najib Razak who has been a bane to Malay support for Anwar in 2026. Anwar must risk and hope that UMNO does badly and not gain additional Parliamentary seats, then the appeal will likely falter.

The economy is reported to have done better at 5.2% growth against the 4-4.8% forecasted.

The Malaysian Ringgit has strengthened and has dropped below RM4 against the US Dollar. It has also strengthened against the Singapore Dollar, much to the consternation of Singaporeans.

Unemployment rate held steady at 2.9% in December 2025, remaining lowest since November 2014.

The investigation into Azam Baki shareholding allegation has just started . There are fervent cries by PKR MPs and the people to investigate too into how he acquired millions to buy the shares based on his civil servant salary.

Now it gotten worse for Azam as Bloomberg has claimed a “ corporate mafia” known to Azam and run by “Section D” to alter control of targeted companies

The shareholding allegation investigation conducted by the Attorney General will most likely be a whitewash and exonerate Azam from any wrongdoing.

But the other two allegations now in Rafizi Ramli and the people’s radar will be much harder to ignore or whitewashed away.

Anwar will need to call for a snap election, hopefully win it and then throw Azam under the bus and be rid of someone who seems to have a hold over him.

The Budi Madani Ron 95 subsidized petrol at RM1.99 was launched successfully and many are happy with it except Singaporeans.

The two SARA (Sumbangan Asas Rumah) programs of RM100 launched on 31 August 2025 and 9 February 2026 have certainly cheered many Malaysians and put the government in high esteem.

Akmal Saleh has not been throwing tantrums and tirades lately since perhaps there is not much flag hanging taking place . Anwar will hope Akmal will clam up his mercurial tendencies and rantings until after the snap election. He can do without having to walk on a knife edge issuing statements to calm fears and angst of non-Malays while still reassuring the position and entitlement of Malays in response to Akmal’s scalding religious and racial verbose.

Anwar has done reasonably well on the international scene especially with helping negotiate the Thai- Cambodia conflict and supporting the Palestinian cause.

Thailand and Japan elections have seen the incumbent ruling party and Prime minister retaining power with a bigger majority.

Mahathir Mohamad appears to have stopped heckling Anwar, possibly on doctor’s orders to reduce stress and getting over excited.

Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah is PKR’s vice president and could benefit from a snap election by giving her a safe PKR Parliamentary seat and become an MP.

She will obviously be appointed a Minister and be anointed successor in chief to her father in PKR and possibly PM if father and daughter play their cards right.

Apart from the likely possibility of UMNO deserting Anwar at election time, there seems little else that going is against a snap election.

If Anwar waits for full term till 2028, Bersatu and PAS may recover, DAP may renegade, the economy and ringgit may falter, Azam’s other investigations may go south and Anwar may be dragged down for protecting him, and of course, the country may be hard-pressed for more SARAs.

That’s a lot of maybes to agonize over and battle against and if Anwar don’t strike while the iron is hot , it could see his downfall and Nurul too.

He must call for a snap election after Hari Raya when currently most of his auspicious stars of good reasons are aligned and to cement his legacy and start his dynasty .