Anwar Ibrahim confident of simple majority in Malaysia polls

MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said his Pakatan Harapan’s alliance is confident of securing a simple majority even in the face of a multi-cornered fight in this month’s general election.

“I have been on the ground and it is a tight race,” Anwar, 75, said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Monday. “But we can move further into the rural heartland and secure a simple majority,”

The Pakatan Harapan coalition will focus on stamping out corruption and bolstering the nation’s small- and medium-sized firms instead of focusing on just the conglomerates, he said.

Malaysia’s general election due on Nov 19 will see multi-cornered fights for almost all the 222 parliamentary seats, raising the possibility that fresh alliances would be needed to form a new government.

Pakatan Harapan is fielding the most number of candidates at 206, followed by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition at 178 and Perikatan Nasional at 149, according to the Election Commission. BLOOMBERG