Ismail Sabri Yaakob served as the deputy prime minister under former Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned Monday after attempts to regain support from MPs were unsuccessful.

Ismail led a faction of his party UMNO that continued supporting Prime Minister Muhyiddin in June, when the party withdrew its support over the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After this culminated in the collapse of the government and Muhyiddin's resignation, he successfully entered negotiations to become Prime Minister after garnering the support of the most MPs.