National Front enjoys early success in polls

National Front enjoys early success in polls

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's National
Front coalition had taken an early lead ahead of Malaysian polls
in nine days, but is in for a tough battle to retain the northern
state of Penang, officials said yesterday.

The National Front scored an early victory by winning
unopposed 11 seats of the total of 192 seats in parliament, and
was uncontested in nine of 394 seats in 11 state legislatures at
the close of nomination day on Saturday.

But analysts said Mahathir's coalition was in for a bruising
fight for Penang state, where the state's chief minister, Koh Tsu
Koon, is being challenged by opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim, secretary-general of the largest opposition party, the
Democratic Action Party (DAP), is battling to win control of
Penang, Malaysia's only ethnic-Chinese dominated state and former
DAP power base.

In the upcoming general elections, the National Front has to
win a minimum of 117 more seats to secure a two-thirds majority
in parliament.

Polling for the remaining 181 seats in the national parliament
and 385 state seats in 11 state legislatures is set for April 25
in peninsular Malaysia and April 24 and 25 in the eastern states
of Sabah and Sarawak.

Mahathir, 70, is locked in a straight fight with a 57-year-old
former police officer, Ahmad Mohd Alim of the fundamentalist
opposition Parti Islam (PAS) in Kubang Pasu, in the prime
minister's home state of Kedah.

"I think there is a good chance for us to win, considering
we've won quite a number of seats uncontested," Mahathir was
reported saying on television after filing his nomination papers
in Kedah on Saturday.

His deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, is headed for a three-way fight
with candidates from the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP)
and PAS in Permatang Pauh in northern Penang state.

Analysts said both Mahathir and Anwar should win their seats
"hands down" as their challengers were virtual unknowns.

In the 1990 polls, the National Front only won two
parliamentary seats uncontested, one each in Sabah and Sarawak.

Mahathir, underlining his concern about Penang, warned voters
they would be committing a "grave mistake" if they voted for the
DAP.

"It will be a grave mistake for the Penang people to support
(Lim) Kit Siang because they have nothing at all to gain," he
said.

The National Front rules all but one of Malaysia's 13 states,
with the northeastern state of Kelantan being controlled by the
PAS, which is expected to retain control of the state.

A total of 417 candidates are vying for parliamentary seats
and 857 for state seats, among them a large number of journalists
contesting under the National Front banner.

Some nine million people out of the population of 19 million
are eligible to vote.