Residents of a Malaysian town have begun voting in a by-election that could see Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy premier now opposition figure, return to parliament.
Anwar, the de facto leader of the opposition Keadilan (Justice) party, said he was confident of winning the election on Tuesday for the Permatang Pauh constituency in the state of Penang.
This, despite him being due to go on trial soon for allegedly committing sodomy with a male aide.
The 61-year-old is standing against Arif Shah Omar Shah, who represents the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition.
Anwar is expected to win the vote and gain a seat in parliament on the back of promises to bring about change and forge national unity.
Anwar has repeatedly threatened to overthrow the BN government led by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Malaysian prime minister, through defections of ruling coalition MPs.
Defection claims
Anwar's aides claim up to 30 of them are willing to defect if he wins the by-election.
Last month, the new sex allegation surfaced as Anwar stepped up his campaign to return to parliament.
He claims the BN "orchestrated the entire malicious, dirty campaign in time for this election", referring to the sodomy charge filed by Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 23, a former aide.
Under Malaysian law, sodomy is illegal even if consensual and a conviction could see Anwar jailed for up to 20 years.
Election law rules that a person can contest an election unless he or she is convicted of an offence before polling day.
"What is important to me is to win, whether it is by a margin of one or 10,000, it doesn't matter," Anwar said on Monday.
Split support
Anwar, who was deputy prime minister before he was sacked on sodomy and corruption charges 10 years ago, is expected to secure most of the ethnic Chinese and Indian votes.
Ethnic Malay voters, however, appear split between him and the BN's Arif Shah.
Ibrahim Suffian, director of the independent Merdeka Centre, which conducted a telephone poll of 544 voters from Friday to Sunday, said more than half believed that Anwar was "capable of bringing change that will benefit the people regardless of race".
"I think it's a test of who protects the Malay interests the most, to which party will they entrust the political future."
PHOTO CAPTION
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim at a press conference in Pematang Pauh on August 25.
Al-Jazeera