Malaysia's former leader Mahathir Mohamad has staged a remarkable political comeback to end the six-decade rule the Barisan Nasional (BN) party. It is still unclear when Mr Mahathir, 92, will be sworn as Malaysia's next prime minister. When he assumes power, he will be the world's oldest elected leader. Mahathir was Malaysia's prime minister 1981 to 2003. At that time, he was leader the BN party, which came to power 1957 after Malaysia gained independence British colonial rule. He was instrumental his country's economic success and making Malaysia an "Asian tiger". He was also accused being an authoritarian leader who used security laws to imprison his opponents.
Official polling results show Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan party has won 113 seats. This is sufficient to form a simple majority the country's 222-seat parliament. Mahathir came of retirement and joined the opposition party. In an often bitterly-contested election race, he defeated his former protégé Najib Razak. Mr Najib had been beset allegations corruption and a multi-billion-dollar financial scandal. Mahathir told reporters that he wanted to put Malaysia back the right track. He said: "What we want to do is to restore the rule law." When reporters asked about his advancing years, he joked age. He said his new cabinet would be, "a gathering men and women, including a young person".
