Malaysia's Anwar set to win Parliament by-election

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-26 09:49

PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia -- Opposition stalwart Anwar Ibrahim contested a key by-election to Parliament on Tuesday in what was seen as a test of his reputation and credibility after being charged with sodomy while trying to topple the government.

A poster of Malaysia's opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim is seen on display ahead of the Tuesday's by-election in Permatang Pauh, about 370 km north of Kuala Lumpur, August 25, 2008.[Agencies]

Anwar was pitted against Arif Shah Omar Shah of the governing National Front coalition in the special election in the semi-rural district of Permatang Pauh, an Anwar stronghold in the northern industrial state of Penang. Results were expected late Tuesday.

At stake was a single seat in Parliament that will not change the balance of power, but a victory for Anwar, being widely forecast, would embolden the resurgent opposition as he marches ahead in his bid to become the next prime minister.

Anwar has vowed to get enough National Front lawmakers to defect to bring down the government by September 16.

"God willing we will perform well. We will manage against all odds, unless there is massive rigging. Any independent observer will concede we have an edge," Anwar, 61, told reporters on the eve of the elections.

About 5,000 police were deployed in the constituency to prevent violence in the polls, which were preceded by a tense and intensely acrimonious campaign in which personal insults were traded freely.

If he wins, Anwar's re-entry into Parliament will formally complete the political rehabilitation of a man who was fired as deputy prime minister in 1998 and jailed for six years amid a similar ignominy, the married father of six children was convicted of corruption and sodomizing his family driver.

Anwar has always maintained that he was framed by his boss, then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, because of a power struggle. The sodomy conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2004.

He says the latest sodomy charge, leveled by a male aide, is also a conspiracy by Mahathir's successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, to prevent him from becoming prime minister. Abdullah flatly denies that.

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