Anwar's party defeated in Malaysian state by-election

(Kyodo)
Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and ex prisoner of Sungai Buloh Anwar Ibrahim's political resurrection suffered an early setback Saturday with the defeat of his party in a hotly contested by-election for a state legislative seat.
Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, 61, from Anwar's People's Justice Party (Keadilan), lost to K. Parthiban, 38, from the ruling National Front coalition, in the fight for a seat in the Ijok constituency in Selangor state.
Parthiban, an education officer, garnered 5,884 votes while Abdul Khalid, a well-known corporate figure-turned-politician, received 4,034 votes.
Anwar campaigned against what he said was rampant corruption and undemocratic practices in the government and, most controversially, he called for the abolishment of the affirmative action policy which gives privileges to the majority ethnic Malays.
The latter should have appealed to the non-Malays which made up nearly half of the voters but bread and butter issues appeared to have won the day.
The National Front's 36 million ringgit (about $10.4 million) pledge to develop the town also apparently won over voters.
The by-election was called after the previous state legislator died of a heart attack early this month.
The result will have no impact on the makeup of the state government. Before this by-election, the National Front already controlled all but two of the 56 seats in the state assembly.
Parthiban and Khalid found themselves mere sideshows during campaigning as the election was viewed as a proxy fight between Anwar and current Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who was leading the National Front's campaign.
The election marked the first time for Anwar to lead his party in a campaign since he was released from prison in September 2004 after a court acquitted him of sodomy charges.
Anwar, once seen as heir to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad before a falling-out in 1998, has been trying to revive his political career after 10 years in the wilderness.
With the National Front winning the seat with an even bigger majority than in the last state elections in 2004, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi may feel confident to call an early general election.
The next poll is not due until early 2009, but there is speculation he will call the election before April 2008 to prevent Anwar from contesting it.
Anwar is barred from running for office until April 2008 because of his criminal record.