Malaysia Goes to Poll

Woman casts her ballot at a polling center in Kuala Lumpur. (Reuters)

"The people are already fed up," Sharil Azrul, an Internet entrepreneur, told Reuters after casting ballot in the northern island of Penang.

"Prices have been rising. The cost of living has been rising. Even baby milk powder has been rising.

"We want the opposition to have a chance. Maybe they might do something better." 

Voting opened after dawn at about 8,000 polling booths across the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country.

Opposition parties have agreed to field one candidate against the ruling coalition in each of the 222 constituencies, avoiding damaging three-cornered contests.

Candidates are vying for a total 505 seats in twelve state assemblies.

Nearly 32 percent of Malaysia's 10.9 million eligible voters had cast their ballots by noon on Saturday, said the election commission chief.

The final results will be announced later in the day.

Reduced Majority  

"We will shake the government this time," said opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim after casting his ballot. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's ruling coalition is expected to retain power but with a reduced majority.

"I want this election to be a credible election," said Abdullah after voting in his home town of Kepala Batas in Penang state, looking relaxed in a blue batik shirt, as Muslim women in headscarves and men in skullcaps formed a long queue to vote.

Opposition parties are expected to double its share in the new 222-seat parliament.

"We will shake the government this time," said former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, after voting in a Penang seat held by his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

The opposition leader was banned from standing for election because of a corruption conviction.

Anwar, who was heir apparent in 1998 to then-premier Mahathir Mohamad, spent six years in jail on sex and corruption charges.

The sex charge was overturned but the corruption count bars him from taking public office until April.

Anwar's wife has said that if re-elected, she will quit parliament and give Anwar a chance to win the same seat on his own in a by-election as the ban would lapse next month.

"We will teach these cheaters a lesson," said Anwar.

Opposition campaign rallies have drawn big crowds, especially ethnic Chinese and Indian voters unhappy with Abdullah's ruling coalition.

Ethnic Indians are in revolt over allegations of marginalization and the Chinese community is upset by economic discrimination.

Muslim Malays form about 60 percent of Malaysia's 26-million population.

Buddhist constitute 19.2 percent, Christian 9.1, Hindu 6.3 while other traditional Chinese religions make up the test of the population.

Fraud

Rights monitors and opposition leaders have warned that the ruling coalition may manipulate the vote in tightly fought seats.

"They appear to be in a state of panic," Nik Aziz Nik Mat, leader of the opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), said after voting at a school fringed by coconut and banana trees in Kota Bahru, the Kelantan capital.

He said that PAS supporters had found a member of the ruling coalition in possession of 28 identity cards.

"I am very confident of winning if there is real democracy in Malaysia and there is transparency in the system," he said.

PAS suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2004, taking only seven seats in the national assembly and control of Kelantan.

Since then, PAS has been trying to revamp its image and capture support among Malaysia's ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.

It has lifted a 15-year ban on the popular games of snooker and billiards and allowed cinemas to operate -- although with the lights on to prevent any unseemly behavior.

In a major face-lift before the elections, PAS said that it would not call for an Islamic state in multi-ethnic Malaysia and is fielding more youth and women candidates, including a non-Muslim.

"PAS should retain control because we have done a good job, honored God's word and carried out Islamic doctrines," said Nik.

"If BN takes control, they will dismantle everything we have done and there will be mixing of the sexes and the removal of halal practices," he said.