KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday rejected opposition demands to recall parliament for a confidence vote, prolonging political uncertainty in the country.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had called for parliament to be convened by next Tuesday in the hope of ousting Abdullah which would then allow him to form a new government.
Abdullah told a news conference there was no need for parliament to sit before it was scheduled to do so. Parliament is in recess until the middle of October.
Anwar said earlier that he had won over sufficient MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to form a new government, but declined to provide names or numbers, saying that would place the lawmakers at risk.
The date Anwar had set to recall parliament was one day before he was due in court on a charge that he sodomised a male aide. He denies the charge and says it was motivated by the government's desire to keep him out of power.
"We must realize this is now a minority government. The majority of MPs are with us now," Anwar said.
Abdullah has refused to meet Anwar and denied that the 30 MPs the opposition needs to form the next government have deserted the ruling coalition, calling Anwar's claims a "mirage."
Anwar's three-party alliance has 82 MPs in the 222-strong Malaysian parliament and if it wins power, it will displace the coalition that has run this Southeast Asian country of 27 million people for over 50 years since independence from Britain.
(Writing by David Chance; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Reuters
18/09/08
PEOPLE'S POWER
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