A 70-minister mandate

摘要

IT CAME DOWN to just two votes. On July 13th Malaysia's prime minister, Muhyid-din Yassin, finally secured a parliamentary majority-more than four months after taking the top job. His coalition, Perikatan Nasional, plus an assortment of informal allies from the Malaysian part of Borneo, notched up 111 votes in favour of changing the speaker of the lower house; 109 opposed the move. Two more mps on the government's side couldn't vote: one was absent and the other was presiding over the contest. The appointment of the new speaker means that a no-confidence motion, filed in May by the previous prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, is unlikely to be debated.