October 22, 1990: Easy win for Mahathir in elections

Easy win for Mahathir in elections

1990 - Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, 64, began a third term in power after routing a combined opposition challenge in Malaysia’s general election to emerge with a comfortable two-thirds majority. His 10-member multi-racial National Front coalition took 127 of the 180 parliamentary seats in the polls, Malaysia’s eighth since independence in 1957. “This shows that the people want a strong government,” Mahathir said. With the two-thirds majority, Mahathir can push through legislation in parliament easily and need not fear threats of defection from coalition members. Opposition leader Razaleigh Hamzah, whom analysts said would provide the biggest challenge to Mahathir, admitted his alliance performed below expectations.

October 22

1836 - Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first elected President of the Republic of Texas.

1873 - Emperors of Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary form alliance.

1947 - India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir.

1953 - Laos gains full independence from France.

1954 - West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

1962 - US President John F. Kennedy announces a blockade of Cuba.

1965 - The song Get Off of My Cloud by the Rolling Stones is released in the England.

1975 - Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 soft-lands on Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to send back images from the surface of another planet.

1992 - Rafik Hariri is appointed Lebanon’s Prime Minister.

2001 - Saudi Arabia becomes the first Arab team to reach three successive World Cup football finals

2005 - A passenger jet crashes shortly after takeoff from Lagos, Nigeria, killing all 117 on board.

2008 - India launches Chandrayaan - 1, the first unmanned mission to the moon.

2009 - Windows 7, the newest operating system from Microsoft, is launched worldwide.

2011 - Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz dies of cancer in New York.

2012 - American cyclist Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and is banned for life for doping.

2013 - The phase one of the 13 megawatt solar project at Seih Al Dahal, Dubai’s first solar power plant, is inaugurated.

2014 - Sharjah International Airport opens a new Dh500 million second runway.