Kuala Lumpur, Oct 30: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad tendered his resignation today as head of Malaysia's ruling party, one of the final formalities before he retires after 22-years in power. Mahathir told reporters that leaders of his United Malays National Organisation had endorsed Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as his successor as party president, an expected move that cements Abdullah as Malaysia's next Prime Minister.
UMNO is the dominant party in the ruling coalition and its president is automatically its candidate for prime minister.
Mahathir said his resignation from the party's leadership will take effect tomorrow, when titular head of state King Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail formally accepts his resignation as prime minister and swears in Abdullah.
Mahathir, 77, has been Muslim-majority Malaysia's leader since 1981 and is credited with spearheading its transformation from a rubber- and tin- producing backwater to one of southeast Asia's most prosperous and modern countries.
He has also earned a reputation as a blunt-speaking critic of the west and champion of poorer and Islamic nations.
Bureau Report