Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his ruling Barisan Nasional (BN or National Front) coalition have prevailed yet again in a Malaysian general election. For once, however, the results were not ordained: A half-century of BN rule has cost the party much of its vitality and it is an easy target for many of the dissatisfactions in Malaysia.
The question now is whether Mr. Najib will be permitted to continue his reform efforts or whether his United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the main party in the National Front, which is displeased over the margin of victory, will cast him aside as it has previous leaders who failed to deliver the results it sought.
The BN has ruled Malaysia since 1957. For virtually all that time, it has held Parliament in a tight grip: Not until elections in 2008 did the party lose its two-thirds supermajority. That "defeat" cost then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi his job. Mr. Najib replaced him with a mandate to staunch the bleeding and return the BN to its previous status.