By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia’s opposition is expected to announce the wife or daughter of its jailed leader as a candidate for his parliamentary constituency.
A party source told The Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that the People's Justice Party had discussed Anwar Ibrahim’s wife -- party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail -- and their second daughter Nurul Nuha Anwar as candidates for the Permatang Pauh constituency in Penang.
"Wan Azizah was the shadow candidate when Anwar Ibrahim was sentenced in February,” said the source, who wished to remain unnamed as they were not authorized to speak to media. ”But the latest developments include the name of Nurul Nuha."
The three parties forming the Pakatan Rakyat opposition pact are expected to reach a consensus in the coming days.
Ibrahim automatically lost his status as a parliamentarian for Permatang Pauh after being sentenced to a five-year jail term for sodomizing his former aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan. In March, he failed to secure a royal pardon from Malaysian King Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah.
Ibrahim had retained his parliament seat from 1982 until his imprisonment for corruption in 1999 -- charges that, along with a sentence for sodomy in 2000, were overturned in 2004.
During the general election in 1999, Ismail stood in the constituency and won by a large majority.
She remained in power until her resignation in 2008, to pave the way for her husband to return to parliament after nine years and to take over as opposition leader.
The eldest child of Ibrahim and Ismail, Nurul Izzah Anwar, has been serving as an MP for Lembah Pantai constituency since 2008.
The candidacy of Nurul Nuha had been debated after she shot to prominence by fighting against the "injustice" of Ibrahim's imprisonment.
Political analyst Dr Baharuddin Aziz told AA on Wednesday that while Nuha had initially not received much publicity, “all of a sudden, after the second sodomy trial and sentencing, she was the image of Anwar's family.”
He added that the development might have been “an intended move by Anwar Ibrahim, who wants his political legacy to live not by one, but two daughters."
Aziz said Ibrahim's family would likely win the upcoming Permatang Pauh by-election by sailing on sympathy votes from the more than 70,000 registered voters in the constituency in north Peninsular Malaysia.
"He [Ibrahim] will use the same strategy in 1999, where sympathy and some hatred of the government then drove his wife's victory," the analyst added.
Asked to comment on the potential candidate, Nurul Izzah Anwar, who is the party’s vice president, said the candidate would be decided between the three Pakatan Rakyat parties.
"We will have to wait for [the] Pakatan meeting to deliberate on this matter," she told AA.
The Election Commission announced Wednesday that the by-election would be held May 7, with nominations set for April 25. According to the commission, 71,890 voters were registered in the constituency in the third quarter of last year.
Ibrahim has been the main opponent of the ruling party, which has been in power since independence in 1957, after falling out with the government in the late 1990s.
Possessing huge support among Malaysians since his entrenchment as deputy prime minister in former Premier Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's government in 1998, he has stood firm that the sodomy case is politically motivated.
The 2013 general election saw his opposition coalition come close to unseating the government in what Ibrahim dubbed the "worst electoral fraud in our history."
