Malay's ruling party tops early tally of election

KUALA LUMPUR - The ruling Barisan Nasional is leading in the early tally of the Malaysia's general election on Sunday, official polling showed.

Latest update by the Election Commission put Barisan over half way to the 112 seats simple majority in the 222 seats lower house of parliament.

According to the official website of the Election Commission, Barisan was leading the opposition People's Alliance (PR) 70 to 30 in parliamentary seats of the first 100 seats announced.

Barisan's early lead could be attributable to its comfortable lead in the Sarawak state of East Malaysia, a traditional stronghold of the ruling coalition.

The Chinese-based opposition Democratic Actions Party is winning convincingly in the parliamentary and state seats with a Chinese dominated population.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had claimed victory soon after the close of the polling centers, urging the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the dominated party of Barisan, as well as the Election Commission (EC) to honor the result.

"PR has won. We urge UMNO and the EC not to attempt to hijack the results," he tweeted on his microblog.

Anwar has accused the electoral body of conspiring with Barisan to rig the vote, which was denied by Barisan chairman Najib Razak and the Election Commission.

The press office of the country's prime minister tweeted that all should "wait for the official election results to be announced by the Election Commission."