Mahathir struggles in Sabah polls

Mahathir struggles in Sabah polls

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (Reuters): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was set on Wednesday to make an 11th hour visit to Sabah state on Borneo island where he faces his first electoral test since firing his former deputy.

Mahathir was to arrive late on Wednesday on his second trip in a week to the remote province, where voters go to the polls on Friday and Saturday to choose a new state assembly.

The elections will have no direct bearing on Mahathir's crushing four-fifths majority in the federal parliament. But they are the first polls since Mahathir dismissed former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim from his Cabinet in September, and precede general elections due by April 2000.

In the absence of reliable opinion polls, it was difficult to measure political shifts in Malaysia, where Anwar's dismissal and arrest set off unprecedented antigovernment demonstrations. The opposition says Mahathir's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition has lost ground in many regions.