Exit polls show Anwar winning Malaysian by-election

Exit polls show Anwar winning Malaysian by-election
26 Aug, 2008

Counting has begun in a by-election in Malaysia which is expected to return the former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to politics.

Mr Anwar has stormed into the lead in early results.

An Election Commission official reading out the votes at the tallying centre in northern Penang state says Mr Anwar had 5,398 votes while his opponent from the Barisan Nasional coalition, Arif Shah Omar Shah, had 1,891.

The commission has said that 38,144 ballots were cast in the Permatang Pauh constituency Tuesday, out of 58,459 eligible voters.

Our South East Asia correspondent Karen Percy reports from the northern state of Penang hundreds of riot police and security officers are on standby at the counting venue where fans of Mr Anwar are awaiting the result.

He's expected to win the by-election comfortably. Mr Anwar first won this seat in 1982 but was forced out of government and of parliament a decade ago.

He served a six-year prison term for corruption and sodomy.

The sodomy charge was ultimately quashed, but now he's facing new charges which he says are politically motivated.

In the past six months Mr Anwar has built up the country's opposition People's Alliance which is posing a challenge to the long ruling Barisan Nasional Coalition.