JOHOR BARU, Nov 25 — PKR deputy president Azmin Ali pledged today the party will free de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from prison to lead a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government.
The Gombak MP said when opening PKR’s Youth and women’s wing national congress that the opposition coalition has reached a consensus that Anwar, who is facing a second sodomy charge, will be “Malaysia’s seventh prime minister.”
PKR de facto leader Anwar completed his defence case in the sodomy trial last month against what he has called an Umno ploy to end his political career.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court will hear closing submissions on December 8 before deciding on a verdict ahead of a general election expected to be held early next year.
The opposition leader’s hopes of becoming prime minister will likely be quashed if found guilty of the offence which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years.
Anwar was first sentenced to nine years’ jail in 2000 but the Federal Court overturned the sodomy conviction in 2004, allowing him to campaign ahead of Election 2008.
The landmark elections saw an opposition electoral pact deny Barisan Nasional its customary two-thirds majority of Parliament and five state governments.
Anwar was again accused of sodomy when former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan filed a police report in June 2008.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had said early this month that Anwar will be prime minister if PR forms government even if he is jailed.
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