Malaysia opposition struggling to form state governments - Reuters

By Jalil Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's opposition alliance struggled on Thursday to reach power-sharing pacts in states that fell under its control in weekend elections dubbed a "political tsunami".

The three opposition parties, which won five out of 13 states in a shock election result, are now in a post-election battle to share the spoils without stoking racial and religious tensions.

"Things are looking very, very fragile for opposition-held state governments," said Zainon Ahmad, the political editor of the local Sun newspaper. "They have difficulty in dividing the spoils of war."

First one and then another of the parties in the opposition alliance threw a fit over representation in the new Perak government, before Sultan Azlan Shah, the state's titular leader, cancelled the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday in exasperation.

The Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP) on Thursday retracted an earlier threat to boycott the ceremony because the Sultan had named Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) as chief minister.

The party was initially upset since it and a third party in the alliance, the People's Justice party led by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, won more state seats in Perak than PAS did at Saturday's elections.

[More at http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSKLR17040020080313]