Malaysian opposition picks Mahathir to face Najib

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA'S opposition named Mahathir Mohamad, 92, as candidate for prime minister in an election that must be held by August.

Once Malaysia's longest serving premier, he will battle his hand-picked heir, Prime Minister Najib Razak, 64. The coalition known as Pakatan Harapan, or Pact of Hope, said at its convention on Sunday that Dr Mahathir would remain prime minister until jailed de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, 70, is eligible to take over.

The opposition has struggled to make gains since dealing Mr Najib his biggest blow in 2013, when it won the popular vote and caused the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to take home its lowest number of parliamentary seats.

A December survey by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research showed that Mr Najib's coalition may regain its two-thirds majority in Parliament, the Malaysian Insight reported.

"Mahathir will be a tough opponent to Najib," said Ibrahim Suffian, programme director at Merdeka Centre. "So while the survey presently indicates the situation as being uphill for Pakatan, we still have perhaps two to three months to the election, which is at least half a lifetime in politics."

Having been prime minister from 1981 to 2003, Dr Mahathir has been out of office for 15 years. While he was instrumental in removing Mr Najib's predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi from power in 2009, his influence has waned over the years and it's unclear how much voter support he can command. His nomination was resisted by some members of Pakatan, which delayed the final decision.

If Anwar receives a pardon after a Pakatan government is installed, he would need to contest and win in a by-election for a parliamentary seat to be eligible to become prime minister. Pakatan also named Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the opposition chief in Parliament, as candidate for deputy prime minister. BLOOMBERG