Anwar Malaysia election win boosts push for power

By Jalil Hamid

PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia's best-known opposition politician, Anwar Ibrahim, scored a bigger than expected victory in a by-election on Tuesday, boosting his chances of becoming the country's next prime minister.

Anwar, whose campaign for the parliamentary seat vacated by his wife has been dogged by charges of sodomy, won a majority of 15,671 over his government opponent.

He said he would initiate a vote to topple the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for five decades.

"The message is clear, we in Permatang Pauh and in Malaysia, we demand change for freedom and justice," Anwar told a jubilant crowd of thousands of people gathered in a football stadium who were chanting "reformasi" (reform) and "merdeka" (freedom).

"We want an independent judiciary, we want the economy to benefit the vast majority not the corrupt few," Anwar, who was wearing a colourful batik shirt, told the cheering crowd.

Political analysts had said that the man who was once a rising star in the government and is now seeking to oust it from power had needed to win by at least the 13,388 majority his wife won when she contested the seat in March's general election.

That Anwar won by much more gives him a real shot at tempting the 30 government legislators to join his three-party coalition and that will enable him to win power in a confidence vote that he has said he will call for September.

"I think he feels he has to ride the momentum and given what he has experienced over the past few weeks, he will be more convinced than ever that he has to do that," said Ooi Kee Beng, a Malaysian expert at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.