Mahathir Mohammad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, during a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia on August 4, 2022. Mahathir, as well as opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who leads the Pakatan Harapan party, both opposed conducting early elections due to the monsoon and flood season which could affect voter turnout or put voters in harm's way. Additionally, many voters had received bribes from the government to vote, Mahathir told CNBC in an exclusive interview last Thursday. watch nowThe government should be focused on weeding out corruption and fine-tuning its economic management of the country, Mahathir said. watch nowLike Mahathir, he said the government should be focusing on problems such as record-high food inflation.

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