Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim called a protest tour over elections he says the ruling regime stole, as the White House urged authorities to “address concerns” about voter fraud.
Anwar late on Wednesday addressed a rally of supporters dressed in black, to protest Sunday’s polls, who filled a stadium and spilled out into surrounding areas, swamping a corner of the capital Kuala Lumpur in hours-long gridlock.
Declaring the elections the “death of democracy”, he called for a sustained campaign against electoral bias and cheating that he says props up an “arrogant, racist regime”.
“We will go to every corner of this country,” Anwar declared, prompting roars from the multi-racial crowd.
“We will continue to struggle and we will never surrender!”
The huge turnout and the charismatic Anwar’s call for similar rallies across the country upped the ante in a campaign by the opposition to paint the elections as a fraudulent victory for the regime that has ruled Malaysia for 56 years.