Malaysia's Anwar cements grip on party after polls

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's loyalists won top party posts in fractious polls in Malaysia, but he remains weakened by infighting among followers and his ongoing sodomy trial, analysts said Monday.

Anwar's right hand man, Azmin Ali, was elected deputy president of the People's Justice Party, whose new office bearers were announced at the annual party congress Sunday. The lineup features four vice presidents aligned with Anwar, including his eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah.

His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, was elected unopposed as president. Anwar's formal title is party adviser but he is considered its de facto leader.

The officer bearers were announced after several weeks of balloting that were supposed to showcase the party's democratic leanings - all its estimated 400,000 members were eligible to vote to elect some 30 top officials.

In contrast, the ruling United Malays National Organization elects its office bearers through some 2,000 delegates who represent more than 3 million members. There are constant complaints that delegates can be won over by lavish gifts and even money.

The opposition party polls too were not without controversy - only 40,000 members took part in balloting amid claims of voting irregularities and allegations of favoritism by Anwar that prompted a prominent candidate for the deputy president's post to quit in anger.

"The new lineup from No. 2 onwards are all Anwar's men. It has cemented his authority but the party can't get its act together," said James Chin, a political science lecturer at Monash University in Malaysia.

"Anwar must show stronger leadership to prepare his party for general elections. People see him as the only acceptable candidate to lead the opposition alliance," he said.

Elections are not due until mid-2013, but there is talk that Prime Minister Najib Razak could hold snap polls early next year to take advantage of the opposition disarray and an economy on the upswing - it is expected to grow more than 6 percent this year after contracting 1.7 percent in 2009.

The situation is a far cry from March 2008 when Anwar's party, in alliance with two other opposition groups, won more than one-third of seats in Parliament in an unprecedented blow to the ruling National Front coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957. The United Malays National Organization is the dominant party in the coalition.

But within a few months Anwar, 62, was charged with sodomizing a young male aide in his office, which he has dismissed as a political plot. Still, his trial is dragging on with lurid details being documented by the court that will likely distract him from party affairs.

Sodomy is punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Muslim-majority Malaysia, even if it is consensual.

On Sunday, Anwar urged his followers to close ranks for the "last lap, the last 100 meters" to win the next elections.

"Everyone has a role to play. Let's strengthen the party," he told more than 1,000 members. "This is the platform for a new era. Let's get our election machinery ready and let's fight to the end."

Meanwhile, Najib has made numerous political and economic reforms to win back ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who had voted for Anwar to highlight their grievances against corruption and racial discrimination.

The National Front won three special elections earlier this month after a string of losses in by-elections.

"The situation, as it is now, is to the government's advantage. There was havoc in Anwar's party and this caused some supporters to be disillusioned," said Mohammad Agus Yusoff, head of the political science program at the National University of Malaysia.