Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s hold on power in Malaysia is in doubt after the best performance in 50 years by an opposition that wants to scrap legalized preferences for the ethnic Malay majority, help the poor, and battle corruption.

While the National Front ruling coalition kept control of Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy after Saturday’s election, it lost the two-thirds majority it has held in parliament for 34 years — a free hand that has helped it to consolidate power. Opposition parties led by a new multiracial party promising to fight poverty and graft won support from ethnic Indians and Chinese, as well as Malays.

“You can’t lead a coalition that loses this badly and stay in power,” an analyst at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Ooi Kee Beng, said. “He should resign. The coalition is in crisis because it can no longer claim it represents all the races.”

Mr. Abdullah’s United Malays National Organization, which leads the ruling coalition of race-based parties, lost power in five of 12 states at stake, including Malay-majority Kelantan and Kedah, and the premier’s home state of Penang.

The prime minister said yesterday he won’t resign because he has the support of UMNO leaders and isn’t under any pressure to quit, according to the state-owned Bernama news agency.

Mr. Abdullah, 68, should resign, former Premier Mahathir Mohamad told reporters yesterday. Mr. Mahathir, 82, handpicked the prime minister as his successor in 2003.

“I made the wrong choice,” he said.