KAJANG, Nov 24 — Prime minister-in-waiting Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived at the Istana Negara here at 4.32pm for his swearing-in ceremony before the Yang diPertuan Agong today.
He arrived with a full security escort that was earlier deployed by the Ceremonial and International Conference Secretariat Division.
Kenderaan rasmi yang membawa bakal Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tiba di Pintu 1 Istana Negara pukul 4.32 petang ini sempena majlis Istiadat Angkat Sumpah Perdana Menteri ke-10.
— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) November 24, 2022
Harith Nizar, Syazwan Mustafa dan Fahmi Aziz pic.twitter.com/VNzRNUMkf9
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman left his residence earlier, waving to his supporters, en route to the Palace with the security detail.
The full police escort indicates Anwar is being sworn in as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia today.
Police also erected a security checkpoint leading to his private residence here.
A turning point was achieved late last night when Umno announced it would back a unity government that was not led by Perikatan Nasional (PN).
This morning, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah met his fellow rulers for a special meeting of the Council of Rulers to brief them on the political impasse.
The Agong had initially given political parties until 2pm on Tuesday to prove they had the majority to form a government and name their prime minister candidate.
However, neither Anwar’s PH nor Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s PN could demonstrate they had a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat — which is at least 112 MPs out of 222 — by the time they were summoned for an audience with the Agong on Tuesday evening.