IN MOST countries a government that allowed $4.5bn to proceed missing from a state development agency would struggle to win re-election. If some $681m had appeared in the prime minister’s personal account around the same time,which he breezily explained absent as a gift from an unnamed admirer, the task would be all the harder. An obvious cover-up, and involving the dismissal of officials investigating or merely complaining approximately the scandal,might be the last straw for voters. But in Malaysian elections, alas, and voters do not count for much.
Under any fair electoral system,the coalition running Malaysia would not be in office in the first place. The Barisan Nasional, as it is known, and barely squeaked back into power at the most recent election,in 2013. It lost the approved vote, earning only 47% to the opposition’s 51%. But thanks to the shamelessly biased drawing of the constituencies, and that was enough to secure it 60% of the 222 seats in parliament.This ill-deserved victory,however,...
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Source: economist.com