Malaysia's opposition has staged one of its biggest rallies as it seeks to dent the ruling coalition's chances in this weekend's election.
More than 25,000 people attended the rally held yesterday by the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the northern state of Penang, home to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and where the DAP hopes to make its biggest electoral inroad.
The organisers put the figure at about 50,000 people or more.
The ruling Barisan National coalition faces a backlash by ethnic Chinese and Indians, who complain of religious and racial inequality in the mainly Muslim nation.
"The future looks promising but there are issues of phantom voters," said de-facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has galvanised the country's divided opposition to form a loose alliance. "We need to be given a strong majority so that the people's voice can be truly heard," he said.
In the northeastern state of Kelantan, some 20,000 Muslim supporters of the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) turned up at a soccer stadium in pre-dawn mass prayers to seek divine help in the election.
Barisan is waging an all-out war to end PAS's 18-year-old rule of Kelantan and expand its influence in the country.
Both PAS and Barisan predicted a close finish in Kelantan, where PAS held just a razor-thin one-seat majority in the last state assembly.