JUDGMENT day has come for both Prime Minister Najib Razak and Malaysia's top opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
On May 5, 13.3 million voters in the predominantly Muslim South-East Asian country will decide whether re-elect Najib's National Front, which has ruled for the past 56 years, or vote for candidates in Anwar's coalition.
"Enough of corruption, enough of racism, enough of abuse of power," said Anwar, the 65-year-old former deputy premier.
"I believe Malaysians are prepared for change."
Najib, 59, characterised the opposition's program as empty promises and warned that it could lead to economic ruin.
"What is important for us is not only change, but real change and progress," he said. "And the real change and progress can come from within."
The ruling coalition is favoured to retain power.
"The deck is stacked against the opposition for many reasons, not the least because of an electoral system based on questionable voting rolls and carefully gerrymandered, single-representative constituencies where victory requires only a plurality," the Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group said.
But election officials, analysts and partisans agree that the elections could be close.
"We are ready for the fiercest battle ever," said Adnan Mansor, secretary general of the National Front.
Ahmad Omar, deputy elections commissioner, said: "This election is going to be very tough for everybody and it is a challenge for the election body."
Ahmad said the commission would ensure the winners are immediately posted on its website to ease tensions that could result from any delays in announcing the official results.
Ong Kian Ming, chief electoral strategist of the predominantly Chinese Democratic Action Party, claimed a 50 per cent chance that the opposition could form the next government.
"We've seen a very warm, very encouraging response from the three frontline states where we need the most seats which are Johor, Sabah and Sarawak," he said.
With 56 parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak, the vote in the two eastern states could swing the result either way in a tight contest, said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.
The youth vote, comprising 30 per cent of the electorate, could also be a deciding factor.
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