Malaysia kicks off election campaign

MALAYSIA - Malaysia’s ruling coalition won six parliamentary seats unopposed Sunday as it formally began campaigning to clinch a two-thirds majority in next month’s general elections.

Hundreds of political heavy-hitters and first-time aspirants filed their nomination papers to contest 222 parliamentary constituencies and 505 state legislature seats.

The process officially marked the start of a 13-day campaigning period ahead of the March 8 ballot.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s National Front coalition got an early boost when no opposition candidates came forward to run for six parliamentary seats. “I believe the people will be attentive to the National Front, which has brought peace and progress for 50 years,” Abdullah said. “I would like this election to be free of troubles.”

More than 1,000 government loyalists thronged a nomination center to support Abdullah as he filed his papers against a challenger from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, in his traditional stronghold of Kepala Batas in northern Penang state.

The National Front won 199 of 219 parliamentary seats in 2004, with only 19 seats taken by the opposition, including six by PAS and 12 by the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s wife won the lone seat for her People’s Justice Party. One seat went to an independent.

This time, the three parties have made a pact to field only one candidate in each constituency to avoid multi-cornered fights, which in the past benefited the National Front.

The strategy is aimed at preventing the National Front from attaining a two-thirds parliamentary majority, which enables the government to change the constitution easily. Kepala batas, Sunday, AP