The Associated Press
Published: January 6, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Three candidates launched their campaigns Tuesday for a parliament seat seen as a popularity test of Malaysia's ruling coalition.
At stake is the seat representing Kuala Terengganu, the capital of northeastern Terengganu state, where support for the governing National Front coalition and the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party is almost evenly split.
The seat became vacant after the incumbent, who narrowly defeated an opposition candidate in March, died in November. About 80,000 people will be eligible to cast votes on Jan. 17 for a new representative.
The three candidates whose petitions to run for office were approved Tuesday are the National Front's Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, a former deputy home minister; PAS candidate Mohamad Abdul Wahid Endut, and an independent candidate.
The results of the election will not change the balance of power in parliament, where Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's National Front retains a comfortable majority.
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But it will provide an indicator of the Front's popularity, which had plunged last year because of anger among the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who complained of discrimination in jobs, education and religion.
The Kuala Terengganu by-election will test the organizational skills, popularity and leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is scheduled to take over from Abdullah by April.
Najib, who arrived in Kuala Terengganu on Monday, told Wan Ahmad that he must "shake hands with up to 200,000 people" if necessary.
The National Front will be seeking to prevent another electoral loss after former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim won a by-election in September to return to Parliament as opposition leader after a 10-year gap.