‘Still work to be done’, but next step is unclear
(ST) – Just what his next step is is unclear, but he has called on supporters to rally tomorrow evening at a stadium outside Kuala Lumpur against electoral fraud.
BEFORE the elections, Malaysia’s tireless opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said this was his best shot to wrest Putrajaya from the ruling coalition.
If he failed to topple the Barisan Nasional (BN), he said, it would also be his last.
But after the fiercely contested elections on Sunday saw the BN re-elected with a small erosion in its majority, he has had a change of heart.
Datuk Seri Anwar, who disputes the results and is alleging fraud, told the Malaysian online news portal Malaysiakini yesterday that there was still work to be done.
“This is maybe the worst-conducted elections we ever had,” he said.
Just what his next step is is unclear, but he has called on supporters to rally tomorrow evening at a stadium outside Kuala Lumpur against electoral fraud.
Mr Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance strengthened its presence markedly in Parliament, but it was not enough to oust the ruling BN coalition. It won 89 seats, up from 82 in 2008. The main winner in the alliance was the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which won 38 parliamentary seats this time, up from 28 before.
Both Mr Anwar’s own Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) finished with fewer seats – PKR now has 30 MPs, one less than before, and PAS has 21, two fewer than before.
At state level too, PR improved significantly by winning 230 seats, up from 197 in 2008, but it lost control of the Kedah state government and managed to retain only Penang, Kelantan and Selangor.
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