Other former Umno heavyweights came out in support of the Opposition Pakatan Harapan "alliance of hope". One of them was Malaysia's former Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz, who wrote for the independent online news outlet Malaysiakini that she never thought she would live to see this day. Despite the optimism and high hopes of the Opposition, many others would have shared her sense of disbelief.
The groundswell of support for the Opposition parties and anger directed at the ruling BN had been very obvious. But blatant gerrymandering and malapportionment of electorates by the government-appointed Electoral Commission promised to rob the Opposition of victory. Opposition strongholds in some cases had more than four times as many voters registered than seats considered safe for the BN. Leading Opposition politicians were disqualified. Longstanding Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had been returned to prison. Ballot papers arrived late in some locations. On polling day, there were reports of voters queuing for hours as election officials appeared to deliberately slow the voting process. There was at least one death of a voter who was waiting to vote in extreme heat. Other voters were reportedly turned away for appearing in shorts.
Many complained online of their votes having been taken, or their names being missing from the electoral roll despite having registered.
The election day itself was, unusually, a weekday, making it hard for many Malaysians to return to their home electorates where they needed to physically cast their votes.
Yet despite seemingly every dirty trick in the book being used, it appeared that something extraordinary was under way as the evening wore on and unofficial vote tallies appeared online and circulated through Twitter and WhatsApp.
The official results coming from the Electoral Commission were slow. Slower than ever before.
Mahathir accused the commission of holding up the process, charging officials with refusing to endorse the vote counts.
Rumours circulated online and on social media of the military and police being on standby (denied by officials), and of voters being called to defend polling places from attempts to manipulate ballot boxes.
All the while, the man who had ruled Malaysia as Prime Minister, Najib Razak, remained unseen. With Najib missing a scheduled press conference and refusing to meet journalists all through the night, the absence of any concession by the leader of UMNO became increasingly glaring. The field was left to Mahathir, who declared victory in the early hours of the morning.
An Opposition alliance that attracted support from every ethnic and religious group, from nearly every region, from across socio-economic divides, had prevailed.
• Natasha Hamilton-Hart is director of the New Zealand Asia Institute and professor in the University of Auckland Business School.
