Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan has been elected as the next king of Malaysia. The 47-year-old new king is the youngest of the Malay Rulers and was chosen for the throne from among the nine ruling Malaysian provincial princes.
The new king was announced on the final day of the three-day sitting of the conclave of rulers in Kuala Lumpur.
Muhammad V, who will be the next Yang di-Pertuan Agong, is British-educated. He succeeds 88-year-old Kedah Ruler, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, whose five-year will end in December.
Malaysia follows a system of elected monarchy although the monarch is only the titular head and the elected prime minister leads the government.
Under Malaysia's complex system to elect the monarch, nine regional Sultans have the right to choose the next king.
The federal constitution has laid down rules of succession to the throne, but traditions and conventions have a role as well. The nine Sultans share the throne in five-year terms and the next in line to assume power was the Sultan of Kelantan.
Perak Ruler Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah was elected as the Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The Sultans of Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Perlis, Terengganu, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Johor and Perak were the members of the conference that elected the new ruler.
The election of Muhammad involved a flouting of some conventions as he is a bachelor and he succeeded his father only in 2010.
Sultan Muhammad married Tengku Zubaidah Tengku Norudin from Pattani, Thailand, in 2004 but the union ended in a divorce later.
