Final push in Malaysia elections

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On May 5, 2013

(The China Post) – A survey released by polling house Merdeka Center predicted Najib’s Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition could win 85 parliamentary seats, while a three-party opposition alliance led by Anwar Ibrahim will take 89 seats. It said 46 seats were too close to call while two seats will go to smaller parties.

Malaysian politicians made a final campaign push as an independent survey showed Prime Minister Najib Razak’s long-ruling coalition running neck and neck with the opposition alliance ahead of Sunday’s general election.

A survey released by polling house Merdeka Center predicted Najib’s Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition could win 85 parliamentary seats, while a three-party opposition alliance led by Anwar Ibrahim will take 89 seats. It said 46 seats were too close to call while two seats will go to smaller parties.

Anwar said only fraud can stop his Malaysian opposition from scoring a historic election win as the rival sides launched a last-ditch campaign blitz Saturday.

Sunday’s elections are the first in the country’s 56 years of independence in which the only government Malaysia has known faces possible defeat.

The uncertainty has given rise to a bitter campaign, with Najib warning of chaos and ethnic strife under the opposition, which has countered with numerous allegations of government vote fraud.

Anwar set the stage for a possibly destabilizing challenge to the results, accusing the Barisan regime of cheating to thwart what he called a “democratic revolution.”

“We have advised our supporters to remain calm, not to be provoked, not to take the law into their own hands, support the process,” Anwar told AFP in an interview in his home seat in the state of Penang.