Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced the formation of a new party after the Supreme Court approved his dismissal from his former "Unity of the Earths" party.

At a press conference held in Kuala Lumpur, he said that forming a new party is an electoral necessity, and expressed his confidence in the grassroots support for the new party in the upcoming elections.

Mahathir accused the current government of Muhyiddin Yassin of kidnapping his former party (The Sons of the Earth), abandoning its goals in combating financial corruption and pursuing those accused of stealing people's money.

He expected that he would face legal problems when registering his new party, calling on the government to show courage and register the party, and not to repeat the actions of the previous government.

Mahathir ruled out that his new party would join either of the two main parties in the government and the opposition.

The party, whose name has not been announced yet, is the second Mahathir has formed since his exit from the "Amnu" party in 2016.

“Kami menubuhkan parti baharu. Parti ini akan perjuangkan nilai perjuangan Bersatu ketika ditubuhkan. Kami akan perangi rasuah tanpa henti, ”kata @chedetofficial yang mengumumkan parti baharu pada sidang media tadi.

Video wartawan TMI: @ kama7esh pic.twitter.com/y5k4Nod5A7

- TheMalaysianInsight (@msianinsight) August 7, 2020

And the ruling "Unity of the Earths" party dismissed Mahathir last May from his membership, after not sitting next to his party colleagues during an extraordinary session of parliament on May 18.

In addition to Mahathir, the party dismissed four of its members, most notably former Minister of Sports Affairs Syed Sadiq, and former Education Minister Muzali Malik, for the same reason.

In response to the decision to dismiss them, Mahathir and those dismissed with him issued a statement confirming that the decision came as a result of pressure from the Prime Minister.

Mahathir resigned from the party leadership after the government crisis that began on February 23, which led to his resignation from the premiership.

At the end of February, Yassin was appointed by the country's king, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, as prime minister, to succeed Mahathir.