Anwar Ibrahim makes history as tenth Malaysian prime minister

The Southeast Asian nation of Malaysia has a new prime minister after a long election stalemate.

The king appointed Anwar as the tenth prime minister following a meeting with state rulers. The king said that he would be taking the oath of office at 5 p.m.

He asked anyone who lost or won at the election to stand together for the country.

The country needs a strong and stable government as policy instability is important.

He has asked elected members of parliament to serve the nation well and extend gratitude to state rulers for their assistance as well as insights into the resolution of the crisis.

For the past 20 years, the former deputy prime minister has been the leader of the opposition, but he has been imprisoned and overthrown.

Ahead of the announcement, Malaysia-listed stocks were in the green, but then took another leg higher. The telecommunications group was among the top gainers. The two Malaysian companies rose 5.11% and 3.45%, respectively.

The Malaysian ringgit gained more than a percent against the US dollar.

The king ordered leading coalitions to present their alliances by Tuesday in order to form a new government.

In order to form the government, parties and coalitions need to win a majority of 112 seats in parliament, out of 222 seats that are up for grabs.

Malaysia has been in political tumult since the opposition won the election in the middle of last year.

After former prime minister and ex-chairman of Barisan Nasional, Razak, fell from grace with his involvement in the 1MDB scandal, Malaysia was thrown into political chaos. The man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The leader of the opposition in the race to the leadership defected to form a new party.

The collapse of the government was caused by the defections.

The nation had three prime ministers.

The highest number of parliamentary seats won by the party was 82, but it was not enough to form a government.

The ruling coalition had 73 seats. The chairman of the party was one of the prime ministers after he and other members of the group defected.

The collapse of the government was caused by the defections.

He was thrown into jail for corruption and sodomy after being deputy to the former prime minister in the 1990's.

Jihye Lee worked for CNBC.