Throughout the day all the key players had scrambled to put together a parliamentary majority – 112 seats and above – as under the Malaysian constitution the king appoints a prime minister he believes can command the majority of the house.

Umno, which once ruled as the largest party of the Barisan Nasional coalition, withdrew a pledge of support for Mahathir, claiming that it could form a broad coalition of parties that would command 130 seats and that therefore joining a unity government “would not be fair to the people”.

Umno secretary general Annuar Musa said he had informed the king that his camp had a sufficient majority to form government and that it would allow Mahathir to be the head if he dropped his alliance with the Democratic Action Party.

The DAP, a member of the now suspended Pakatan Harapan coalition and popular with ethnic Chinese voters, had previously refused to work with Umno, citing its rampant corruption and right-wing ethno-religious views.

However, it is far from clear that Umno – which has only 39 MPs of its own – has as much support as Musa claimed.

Just a few hours after stepping down, Mahathir was named interim prime minister by the king. Since then he has been working to consolidate power among the elected representatives of various parties, and most observers believe he will be able to stitch together a majority.

He currently has the promised support of political alliances in East Malaysian states, three Pakatan Harapan component parties and the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), from which he resigned as chairman on Monday.

Mahathir is believed to have resigned from Bersatu because he did not want to work with Umno, citing the party’s corruption and lack of integrity, although some members of his party had been open to an alliance.

Bersatu itself left the Pakatan Harapan coalition on Monday, just minutes before Mahathir announced his resignation as chairman.

With the crumbling of the former ruling coalition just 21 months into its tenure, the make-up of the new government remains unclear, although most observers seem certain that Mahathir will remain as prime minister with overwhelming support from MPs from both sides of the divide.

“There are numerous scenarios and outcomes, different permutations and combinations. The numbers are just so fluid. While many MPs seem to want Dr Mahathir to continue on as prime minister it is still unclear what the exact make-up of the new coalition is and whether it will have any goals, policies or priorities beyond what Dr Mahathir wants,” said Amir Fareed Rahim, a political commentator from KRA Group.

Mahathir, Anwar, the king: who’s who in Malaysia’s political shake-up?

What was clear, however, was that Pakatan Harapan’s old formation was over, said Ibrahim Suffian of independent pollster Merdeka Centre.

“Mahathir can start with a relatively clean slate. Having said that he will still need to contend with horse trading positions with the various parties,” he said.

If and when Mahathir can form a new coalition, it is likely to have a new name and therefore would not be bound to follow the Pakatan Harapan’s pre-election manifesto. Sources said that would put an end to the constant questions surrounding the power transition between Mahathir and Anwar.

INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING

Meanwhile, for the first time in Malaysian history, the king on Tuesday began interviewing all 222 members of parliament to determine their stance on who should be the next prime minister. He met approximately 90 MPs, saying he hoped “we will find the best solution for the country”.

The developments come just 21 months after the Pakatan Harapan coalition staged a dramatic election triumph over the corruption-tainted Barisan Nasional bloc, which had been in power for 61 years.

At the time, Mahathir’s victory – which came in an alliance alongside former rivals such as Anwar – was celebrated as the birth of a “New Malaysia”.

Malaysia waits for clarity as Mahathir returns to work amid political tumult

Battles within Pakatan Harapan, however, began soon after, with the key point of contention being when Anwar, 72, would take over from Mahathir, who was also prime minister between 1981 and 2003.

Anwar stunned the country on Sunday night when he claimed he had been “betrayed” by members of Mahathir’s camp and others from his own Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) seeking to block him from becoming the country’s next leader.

Questions remain as to the future of ex-PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, who was sacked from the party on Monday along with his ally Zuraidah Kamaruddin.

In retaliation, the former ministers took nine of their loyalists to sit as an independent bloc in parliament. Azmin has had a long-brewing rift with his party’s president, Anwar, who had hoped to take over from Mahathir before 2023.

On Monday, DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng said the “renegade” PKR members were angling to team up with Umno, the right-wing Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), two smaller opposition parties and certain sections of Bersatu to “form a back-door government”.

A PKR source indicated that Azmin was “out”, despite formerly being fondly regarded by Mahathir and viewed by some as an alternative choice for the next prime minister given Mahathir’s long-standing dislike of Anwar – whom he sacked over allegations of corruption and sodomy in the 1990s.

“General consensus is he can go and die,” said the high-ranking party insider, although they maintained that “the other nine [including former Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah] can come back, it will be forgiven”.

Azmin’s bloc has claimed it went rogue to halt efforts to overthrow Mahathir, forcing them to join forces with former rivals Umno and PAS. The claim has been widely criticised online by Malaysians who viewed the unofficial alliance as a betrayal.