Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Anwar wins seat; calls it 1st step to toppling Malaysian government

PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has won a special election for a seat in parliament.

The victory strengthens Anwar's campaign to topple the government and become Malaysia's next prime minister even though he is facing charges of sodomizing a male aide.

Tuesday's official count showed Anwar with an unbeatable lead over the governing coalition's candidate for a seat in a semi-rural district in the northern industrial state of Penang.

Anwar's re-entry into parliament would formally complete the political rehabilitation of a man who was fired as deputy prime minister in 1998 and jailed for six years after he was convicted of corruption and sodomizing his family's driver.

The sodomy conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2004, but Anwar is now facing trial on new charges that he sodomized a male aide in June.
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