Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim says opposition has ‘fair chance’ to win election even without Mahathir

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday he believes his three-party alliance has a “fair chance” of winning a general election that could be called as early as November.

Anwar leads the Hope Alliance, which earlier teamed up with an ethnic Malay party led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad for a historic win in 2018 elections. Anger over corruption led to the shocking defeat of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which had ruled Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957.

Anwar was in prison at the time on sodomy charges he said were politically motivated. He was pardoned after the polls, and was due to take over as prime minister from Mahathir. But the reformist government collapsed after less than two years due to defections, and Umno returned to power.

Anwar, 75, said in a news conference in Bangkok that his coalition still has strong support, while there is infighting within current Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s governing coalition and corruption within the government.

He said there is a small possibility that the election will be called in November, but it may also be held by February or March to avoid the year-end monsoon season that often brings heavy rain and floods.