Anwar to contest by-election
2008-07-28 13:46
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will contest a by-election in a northern state in a bid to return to parliament almost 10 years after his rising career was dashed by sodomy allegations, an aide said on Monday.
Anwar is nurturing ambitions to be the next prime minister, but also faces a new sodomy allegation made last month.
He will contest the seat in Kulim constituency in the state of Kedah for the People's Justice Party, said its spokesperson Tian Chua. Anwar made the announcement at public rally in Kulim on Sunday night.
The constituency is now represented by opposition lawmaker Zulkifli Nordin, whose election has been challenged in court by the governing National Front on the grounds that his nomination process was faulty. A verdict is expected next month.
Zulkifli will step down and force a by-election regardless of whether he wins or loses the court case, Chua said.
Zulkifli told The Associated Press that even if the court rules in his favour "I will still give way to ... Anwar if he decides to contest Kulim."
Once Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Anwar was fired from the government in September 1998 and arrested on corruption and sodomy charges. He was convicted of both charges - which he denied - and sentenced to 15 years in prison while being stripped of his parliament seat.
He was freed in 2004 after Malaysia's highest court overturned the sodomy conviction. But the corruption conviction barred him from holding any political office or running for office for five years.
The ban, which expired in April this year, prevented him from contesting the general elections in March in which his party and two other opposition groups formed an alliance to score unprecedented gains.
The alliance is only 30 seats short of a majority in the 222-member Parliament and Anwar has threatened to bring down the government with defections from the National Front.
Anwar's campaign suffered a setback when he was accused last month of sodomising a 23-year-old male aide, who is now living under police protection.
He insists the accusation was concocted to thwart his political moves. The government has denied any conspiracy.
Chua said Anwar's re-entry into parliament would "encourage" ruing party lawmakers to "cross over faster".
- AP