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PKR sources say he will first focus on building up the opposition alliance By Chow Kum Hor, THE STRAITS TIMES
DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be eligible to run for public office from Tuesday, but the de facto head of a resurgent opposition is unlikely to be heading into Parliament any time soon, his party officials say. The former deputy prime minister, widely held to be eyeing the prime ministership, will instead focus on strengthening the opposition alliance, which made big gains in last month's general election. 'We've got time on our side. It has always been Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) stance that Anwar will not rush into standing in a by-election,' PKR vice-president Sivarasah Rasiah told The Straits Times. There has been widespread speculation that one of PKR's 31 MPs will step down to allow Datuk Seri Anwar to contest a by-election when the ban preventing him from standing for election expires. He was legally barred from running for public office during the last five years due to a conviction for corruption. 'Building up an effective and credible Pakatan Rakyat is far more important for now,' Datuk Seri Anwar was reported as saying by The Star newspaper yesterday. Pakatan Rakyat, or People's Alliance, consists of PKR, the Democratic Action Party and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS). The speculation over the opposition leader's entry into Parliament comes amid claims by PKR that some 30 MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition are ready to join the alliance. Pakatan won 82 out of 222 Parliament seats in the poll. If 30 MPs from BN crossed over, Pakatan would have one seat more than BN in Parliament. This would set the stage for the federal government to change hands to Pakatan - unless BN calls a fresh general election. But Datuk Seri Anwar cannot become the prime minister even if the BN government falls to Pakatan, unless he wins a seat in Parliament first. PKR information chief Tian Chua said that Datuk Seri Anwar is likely to drop hints about his immediate plans in a planned mass gathering on Monday. The meeting will be held in a private Malay club in Kuala Lumpur, also the venue of a historic meeting which led to Umno's formation in 1946. PKR said that 10,000 people will turn up. An adviser to Datuk Seri Anwar said that Pakatan Rakyat needed to 'smoothen its rough edges' first before he would contest a by-election. This includes sorting out policy differences between the parties, especially on PAS' Islamic state agenda. 'Things are very fluid, but it may take up to six months before we see Anwar contesting in a by-election,' the source added. Some media reports said that, under election rules, a by-election cannot be held until six months after a general election. But Election Commission secretary Kamaruzaman Mohd Noor told The Straits Times there was no such provision. This effectively means that a by-election could be held soon after an MP steps down. Speculation is rife that Datuk Seri Anwar will contest in Bandar Tun Razak, a constituency in KL currently held by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, who is also Selangor Menteri Besar. Should Datuk Seri Anwar win, the Parliament will for the first time feature a father-mother-daughter team, as his wife and daughter are also MPs.
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