New Malaysian parliament sworn in

Malaysia’s newly elected parliamentarians have taken the oath of office to join the lower house.

Led by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the politicians were sworn in today in Dewan Rakyat, or the People’s Chamber, the decision-making lower house of parliament.

Malaysia held elections on March 8 to elect the 222 members and the polls produced stunning results by giving the opposition alliance an unprecedented 82 seats.

This deprived the ruling National Front coalition of a two-thirds majority for the first time in 40 years.

For the first time, the opposition leader in parliament is a woman – Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. She is the wife of former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Mr Anwar did not contest the elections.