KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian political parties are still in discussion on how to form the next government following the indecisive election results, with the country's king Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah extending the deadline on Monday.
The king initially asked the political parties to present a name to fill the prime minister's post by Monday and after their failure to do so, the deadline has been extended by 24 hours to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the palace said in a statement.
"His Majesty advises the public to be patient and calm until the process of forming a new government and nomination of a new prime minister is completed," said the statement.
It also said that during this interim process, the country is still being administered normally under the care of a caretaker prime minister.
Malaysia held snap national polls on Saturday with the stated goal of returning political stability to the Southeast Asian country, but the fragmented results have seen no coalition or party securing enough seats in the lower house of parliament to form a new government on its own.
Among the major coalitions gaining support are Pakatan Harapan with 82 seats, Perikatan Nasional with 73, Barisan Nasional with 30 and a group of parties from the northern Borneo state of Sarawak with 22, with the remainder being held by smaller parties and independent members of parliament. No single party or political coalition has gained simple majority in the 15th general election.
The lower house of the parliament has 222 seats and the voting for the remaining two seats has been postponed, one due to the sudden death of a candidate and another due to flooding which has disrupted the voting.
