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Anwar win with landslide victory


PERMATANG PAUH: Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim ended a 10-year wait to return to Parliament with a landslide victory in a special by-election.

Anwar won the majority of the ballots cast by at least 15,000 voters against his opponent Arif Shah Omar Shah from the ruling National Front coalition, Election Commission officials said.

Tens of thousands of supporters gathered outside a teaching college to wait for the announcement, which was greeted by thunderous cheers and applause.

Tuesday’s victory paved the way for Anwar to return to Parliament as the head of a three-party opposition alliance, grouping his own People’s Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party and the hardline Parti Islam SeMalaysia.

Previously a sleepy town, the northern Permatang Pauh constituency captured the attention of the entire nation when Anwar announced his decision to contest the seat left vacant by his wife, Wan Azizah Ismail, on July 31.

Anwar held the seat from 1982 to 1999 when he was forced to quit after being ousted from the government and put on trial for corruption and sodomy.

He was convicted and imprisoned on both charges, which he denied, but was freed after Malaysia’s top court overturned the sodomy conviction in 2004.

Anwar and Wan Azizah cast their votes early on Tuesday and began a gruelling day of meeting voters and supporters at the 28 polling stations in the constituency.

Anwar, a Muslim of ethnic Malay descent, has pledged to erase parochial politics, clamp down on rampant corruption and revive an ailing economy if voted into office.

Pilihanraya Umum 8 Mac 2008
Azizah Undi 30,338 undi
Firdaus 16,950 undi
Majoriti undi 13,888.
Peratus Keluar Mengundi 81.87 peratus

Pilihanraya Kecil 26 Ogos 2008
Anwar 31,195 undi
Ariff Syah 15,524 undi
Hanafi 92 undi
majoriti undi 15,671
Peratus Keluar Mengundi 80.00 peratus

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