Malaysia sultans to meet at 0200 GMT to pick next monarch – state media

Malaysia’s sultans are set to elect a new king on Friday at a special meeting scheduled to start at 10 a.m. local time (0200 GMT), state news agency Bernama reported.
The king plays a largely ceremonial role in Malaysia, but the monarchy has become more influential in recent years due to prolonged political instability that has prompted the incumbent king to wield rarely used discretionary powers.
Malaysia has a unique system in which the heads of its nine royal families take turns to be monarch for a five-year term. The Southeast Asian country is a parliamentary democracy, with the monarch serving as head of state.
Though the vote for the king is held by secret ballot, appointments have followed a rotation since independence, suggesting that Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, of the southern state of Johor, is in line to take over as new king.