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. in the aftermath of the
2020 Malaysian political crisis. He was nominated by the new Prime Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin of the
Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition. His controversial appointment motion was moved by Muhyiddin following an impromptu motion to unseat incumbent Mohamad Ariff. The motion was seconded by Senior Minister
Mohamed Azmin Ali and narrowly succeeded through a 111–109 vote. He had overseen the suspension of Parliament due to the proclamation of the
2021 Malaysian state of emergency from January to August which had also witnessed the enactment and revocation of Emergency Ordinance (EO), to prevent or delay any election to keep power by hiding behind the motive to curb COVID-19 pandemic has led to his failures to protect the rights of parliamentarians of the house. The replacement of
Ismail Sabri Yaakob of
Barisan Nasional (BN) as the new Prime Minister of the PN government in August 2021 allowed Azhar to remain as Parliament Speaker. ==Controversies and issues==