Kuala Lumpur, Mar 13 (IANS): Malaysia's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition led by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) scored another key election victory, winning over control of Johor state.

The coalition took 37 of 56 state Assembly seats, granting it a two-thirds majority in the state assembly, Xinhua news agency quoted the election commission as saying on Sunday.

The election was necessitated after the state's Chief Minister Hasni Mohammad received consent from the Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar to dissolve the Assembly.

Hasni had justified the move due to the state government only having a majority of one seat.

The state election is notable for being the first since the implementation of a new law that lowered the voting age to 18 and allowed for unregistered eligible voters to be automatically added to the electoral roll.

BN, which had governed Malaysia since the country's independence in 1957, lost the state and also lost control of the government for the first time after being defeated by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in the national and state polls in 2018.

However, it has since enjoyed a strong revival, winning a string of by-elections and winning the state election in Malacca in November last year by a landslide.