Mahathir Mohamad reacts as he speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, May 10, 2018. Mahathir says the opposition parties who won a shock victory in Malaysia's elections have... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mahathir Mohamad reacts as he speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, May 10, 2018. Mahathir says the opposition parties who won a shock victory in Malaysia's elections have a clear mandate to form a new government and he expects to be sworn in as prime minister on Thursday.... (Associated Press) 
 
 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's former authoritarian ruler Mahathir Mohamad, who in a stunning political comeback led opposition parties to their first election victory in six decades, said Thursday they have a clear mandate to form a government and insisted he should be immediately confirmed as prime minister. 
 
 In a lively news conference peppered with his trademark wisecracks, 92-year-old Mahathir flagged significant changes for Malaysia, which he described as being left in a "mess" by defeated Prime Minister Najib Razak and the National Front coalition. 
 
 The election result is a political earthquake for the Muslim-majority country, ending the National Front's unbroken 60-year rule and sweeping aside Najib, whose reputation was tarnished by a monumental corruption scandal, a crackdown on dissent and the imposition of an unpopular sales tax that hurt many of his coalition's poor rural supporters. It is also a surprising exception to backsliding on democratic values in Southeast Asia, a region of more than 600 million people where governments of countries including Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines have swung toward harsh authoritarian rule. 
 
 "We need to have this government today without delay," Mahathir said. "There is a lot of work to be done. You know the mess the country is in and we need to attend to this mess as soon as possible and that means today. So we expect that today, well, I'll be sworn in as prime minister." 
 
 Supporters of the incoming government took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to celebrate their unexpected victory. Many analysts had thought the National Front might lose the popular vote but cling to a majority in parliament due to an electoral system that gave more power to its rural Malay supporters. 
 
 People stood on roadsides waving the white, blue and red flag of the opposition alliance that triumphed in Wednesday's election. Cars honked their horns as they sped past. 
 
 "I'm so happy," said Zarini Najibuddin while waving the opposition flag. "I hope we'll have a better Malaysia now. Malaysia reborn!" 
 
 But Ibrahim Suffian, co-founder of the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, said the new government will have to contend with "enormous forces of inertia and resistance from within the government elites." 
 
 "The bureaucracy and the rest of the government apparatus has never been used to this idea, having been, you know, more than 60 years under the same political party," he said. 
 
 Mahathir, prime minister for 22 years until stepping down in 2003, was credited with modernizing Malaysia but was also known as a heavy-handed leader who imprisoned opponents and subjugated the courts. 
 
 Angered by the graft scandal at state investment fund 1MDB, Mahathir emerged from political retirement and joined the opposition in an attempt to oust Najib, his former protege. 
 
 The U.S. Justice Department says $4.5 billion was looted from 1MBD by associates of Najib between 2009 and 2014, including $700 million that landed in Najib's bank account and a $23 million pink diamond necklace bought for Najib's wife. He has denied wrongdoing. 
 
 Mahathir said the new government will not conduct a witch hunt, but Najib will have to face the consequences if he has broken the law. 
 
 Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at John Cabot University in Rome, said it was hugely ironic that Mahathir, who damaged Malaysia's democratic institutions with his strong-arm rule, has returned as its political savior. 
 
 "It is not just a comeback," she said. "It is about making amends about his mistakes and moving Malaysia forward." 
 
 Mahathir said the new government would seek the release and full pardon of Anwar Ibrahim, an opposition icon imprisoned on sodomy charges that Anwar and his supporters said were fabricated by the National Front to crush the opposition. Anwar, whose sentence ends on June 8, should be free to participate in politics, he said. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister in the ruling party, was also imprisoned under Mahathir following a power struggle. 
 
 On the economic front, Mahathir vowed to cancel a goods and service tax imposed since 2015 and said the government could also renegotiate the terms of Chinese loans for infrastructure projects. 
 
 He criticized a "fake news" law pushed through parliament by the National Front during the lead-up to the election. Mahathir is being investigated under that law for claiming a plane he was to travel on was sabotaged during the campaign. 
 
 Mahathir disputed Najib's assertion during a concession speech that Malaysia's king must appoint the new prime minister because no single party has a parliamentary majority, calling it "confusion." The constitution, he said, only specifies that the prime minister must represent those with a majority in the legislature. Opposition parties won more than 135 seats in the 222-seat parliament. 
 
 In his speech, Najib, 64, said he accepted the "verdict of the people." 
 
 The National Front "will honor the principle of democracy in the parliament," he said. ||||| Image copyright Reuters Image caption Dr Mahathir has indicated he may only serve two years 
 
 Mahathir Mohamad has been sworn in as prime minister of Malaysia after his shock election victory, 15 years after he stood down. 
 
 After taking the oath at the Istana Negara palace in Kuala Lumpur, he told reporters his focus would be on the country's finances. 
 
 The former strongman has become, at 92, the world's oldest elected leader. 
 
 He came out of retirement and defected to the opposition to take on and beat former protege Najib Razak. 
 
 His historic win ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957. 
 
 What other policies did he outline? 
 
 Dr Mahathir took his oath of office before the king, Sultan Muhammad V. The new prime minister was accompanied by his wife, Siti Hasmah Mohammed Ali. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Young voter: "We see him like a grandfather" 
 
 Addressing the media, he pledged that Malaysia would remain a "friendly trading nation" and he would work to keep the currency, the ringgit, as "steady as possible". 
 
 He said he would seek the return of millions of dollars lost in a corruption scandal at 1Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund set up by Mr Najib. 
 
 "We believe that we can get most of the 1MDB money back," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency, adding: "We have to increase the confidence of investors in the administration." 
 
 He renewed his promise to seek to have his former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, released and pardoned. 
 
 When Dr Mahathir was previously in power, Anwar was jailed for corruption and sodomy after calling for economic and political reforms. 
 
 He was released in 2004 but jailed again under Mr Najib in 2015. He is currently due for release next month. 
 
 What was the scale of the victory? 
 
 Investment analyst Aninda Mitra told Reuters news agency the shock of the election outcome had been as great as "Brexit and the Trump election". 
 
 Official results show Dr Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) coalition secured 113 of the 222 seats being contested, including some which have only ever been held by the government. BN took 79 seats. 
 
 Rising living costs and long-running allegations of corruption had weighed heavily on many voters and saw them peel away from Mr Najib and his once unshakeable coalition. 
 
 How are people taking Mahathir's return? 
 
 "We feel so united tonight," student Abdul Aziz Hamzah, 24, told AFP news agency in the crowd of jubilant supporters outside the palace. "Mahathir is so insightful and experienced because he's been here before." 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mahathir supporters waved flags outside the Istana Negara palace 
 
 Fahmi Fadzil, an MP from the winning coalition, told the BBC Dr Mahathir inspired excitement about Malaysia's future. 
 
 "Today he has created, along with other Pakatan Harapan leaders, a resurgence in faith in Malaysia," he said. 
 
 "The polling centres that I visited, there was a sense of euphoria among people who cast their vote. Members of the press that I had met, some of them said that they cried when they heard that we had won. 
 
 "There is very real change happening in Malaysia. Finally we can believe in the country again." 
 
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 How are Mahathir's earlier years in office remembered? 
 
 He was prime minister, at the head of the BN coalition, for 22 years, from 1981 until he stepped down in 2003. 
 
 Under his leadership, Malaysia became one of the Asian tigers - the group of countries which saw their economies expand rapidly in the 1990s. 
 
 However, he was an authoritarian figure who used controversial security laws to lock up his political opponents. 
 
 Where did Najib fall down? 
 
 Dr Mahathir was also a mentor to Mr Najib, who became prime minister in 2008. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Najib (L) was a former protege of Dr Mahathir (C) 
 
 But Mr Najib was accused of pocketing some $700m (£520m) from the 1MDB but vehemently denied the allegations and was cleared by Malaysian authorities. 
 
 The fund, meanwhile, is still being investigated by several countries. 
 
 Mr Najib was also accused of stifling Malaysian investigations by removing key officials from their posts. 
 
 Those allegations led to Dr Mahathir's surprise defection in 2016 from BN to join the Pakatan Harapan, saying he was "embarrassed" to be associated "with a party that is seen as supporting corruption". 
 
 Then in January, he said he would run for the leadership again. 
 
 But despite his historic win, uncertainty hangs over his tenure. Prior to his win, he intended to govern for two years before stepping down. 
 
 'Mountain of challenges' 
 
 By Jonathan Head, BBC South East Asia correspondent 
 
 This morning Malaysia has woken to an entirely new situation, the first transfer of power in its history, albeit to a very familiar leader. But there are huge unknowns. How willingly will BN, the coalition which has, in various forms, run the country since independence and embedded itself into all areas of governance, relinquish power? 
 
 How well will a disparate coalition, united largely by their desire to oust Najib Razak, work together in government? How smoothly will the plan to gain a pardon for imprisoned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, and then for Mr Mahathir to hand the premiership to him within two years, actually proceed? And how will they treat Mr Najib, and his high-spending wife, both accused of greed and corruption? 
 
 After all the jubilation over an impressive act of defiance by Malaysian voters, there is a mountain of challenges to face.
– "Yes, yes, I am alive" is not the typical comment from the winner in the wake of a national election, but Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad is not your ordinary winner. The 92-year-old is poised to become the world's oldest elected leader, reports the BBC. Mahathir's coalition of opposition parties earned a stunning victory over the ruling Barisan Nasional party, which has been in control since 1957. In fact, Mahathir once belonged to the party himself when he served as prime minster from 1981 to 2003, but he defected over corruption allegations surrounding the party and outgoing Prime Minister Najib Razak. Mahathir led Malaysia during a stretch when it became known as an "Asian tiger" due to the rapid growth of its economy, but he gained a reputation as an authoritarian ruler who jailed political opponents and trampled over the courts, reports the AP.