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| Monday, 3 November 2003 |
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Malaysia's new PM signals start of election campaign KUALA LUMPUR, Sunday (AFP) Malaysia's newly-installed Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi signalled at the weekend that elections could be called early as he seeks to win his own mandate from voters. Abdullah took over Friday from Mahathir Mohamad, who retired after 22 years in power, simply because he was the chosen successor and next most senior member of the ruling party - without having faced a popular vote. Elections are not due until the end of 2004, but the fact that Abdullah chose to raise the issue in his maiden speech as prime minister Saturday lent credence to speculation that polls will be called within months. "Let us work harder so that when we face the general election we will get a bigger victory than in the last election," Abdullah told tens of thousands of supporters during a visit to his home state of Penang. As prime minister, Abdullah leads a powerful coalition of ethnically-based and multiracial parties known as the National Front. But his own party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), faces a major challenge for the votes of the country's Muslim majority from the hardline Islamic Party (PAS). In the last elections in 1999, PAS made major inroads into UMNO's power, tripling its parliamentary seats and taking control in a second of the country's 13 states. With Muslims making up just 60 percent of the population of 24 million, the support of the large ethnic-Chinese and ethnic-Indian minorities is crucial to UMNO retaining its leading role in the governing coalition. |
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