It is a founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition which, with its predecessor the Alliance, had been the government of Malaysia and dominated the country's politics from independence to the defeat in the 2018 Malaysian general election in May 2018. Until then, all of Malaysia's Prime Ministers had been members of UMNO, until Mahathir Mohamad became the first prime minister from Pakatan Harapan, and the first prime minister to have tenures with two different parties. Following Mahathir's resignation in 2020, the party subsequently rejoined the government with nine ministerial positions in the Muhyiddin cabinet.