On Monday, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad tendered his resignation to the king of Malaysia and resigned as co-chair of the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition in a move aimed to bring down the fragile coalition government and lift Mahathir's obligation to hand over power to his coalition partner, Anwar Ibrahim.

Mahathir, 94, will serve as interim prime minister until the new government is formed.

"We are calling for parliament to be dissolved and let the people decide," Annuar Musa, an UMNO member, said at a press conference.

Musa stated that the three other coalition parties — Barisan Nasional, the Malaysian Islamic Party and the United Sabah People's Party — unanimously supported the dissolution of parliament, adding that a new mandate was needed to decide Malaysia's future.