The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is constitutionally empowered to not abide by the advice to dissolve Parliament forwarded by a prime minister who has lost the majority backing of the lawmakers,  constitutional lawyers say.

Senior civil law practitioner Nizam Bashir said a precedent was previously set by the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, whereby the state ruler ignored the then menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin’s request to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly and call for elections...