Azhar bin Azizan Harun (; born 26 October 1962), also known as Art Harun, is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as the 10th Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat from July 2020 to December 2022 and the 9th Chairman of the Election Commission (EC) from September 2018 to his resignation in June 2020. Early life and education Azhar was born in Ayer Hitam, Kedah. He is the younger brother of Idrus Harun, who has been the Attorney-General of Malaysia since March 2020. Azhar read law at the University of Malaya and graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1986. He then furthered his studies at the King's College London and obtained his degree of Master of Laws (with merit) there. Career Legal practice Azhar started his career at a firm named Allen & Gledhill in 1987 and also used to work at Tetuan KH Koh, Azhar & Koh in 1992. Then, he continued his career at various law firms like Tetuan Khaw & Hussein, Tetuan TH Su & Partners, Tetuan Lamin & Co, Tetuan Hisham Sobri & Kadir, Tetuan Shafee & Co and Tetuan Cheang & Ariff (owned by Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who had become the Parliament Speaker whom Azhar has succeeded later). He was also a defendant lawyer, as well as a solicitor at Tetuan Azhar & Goh. Chairman of Election Commission (2018–2020) Azhar was first appointed as the Chairman of EC on 21 September 2018, not long after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition under new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad came into power succeeding their campaigns against previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government corruptions and abuses in the 2018 general election (GE14), as his past experience and known reputation suits the institutional reforms agenda of new ruling PH administration and the peoples' mandate as well as expectations had made himself a right choice. Eight by-elections were held under his chairmanship and he had implemented a number of reforms in the country's electoral system including online voter registration, voter's card, providing facilities for disabled and elderly voters as well as live-streaming of the vote counting process on Facebook. He served the office until his resignation on 29 June 2020. Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (2020–2022) After quitting EC position, as speculated Azhar was appointed as the Parliament Speaker on 13 July 2020, in the time of a change government again in the 2020 Malaysian political