PRN Sarawak : DSAI yakin nafi majoriti 2/3 BN

In his final press conference before Sarawak goes to the polls tomorrow, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim insisted that Pakatan Rakyat can deny BN the coveted two-thirds majority in the state assembly.

According to Anwar in Kuching, Pakatan is confident of winning more than the 24 seats needed to claim a moral victory against BN.

"We are very optimistic that we can go far beyond denying the two-thirds majority and break BN's monopoly," he said.

However, Anwar appeared cautiously optimistic when asked if he believed that Pakatan can take over government.

"We are pushing towards that, even though it is still an uphill task. If it is a free and fair election from the beginning, there would be no qualms at all but our concern is the developments in the next few hours," he said.

The 10-day election campaign will end at midnight tonight and there will be an eight-hour 'cooling off' period before Sarawakians go to the polling stations beginning at 8am tomorrow.

'Our position is 'cukup selesa''

Anwar, who appeared jovial today after campaigning non-stop over the past 10 days, also tiptoed around a question on the impact of the Sarawak polls on the upcoming 13th general election.

"It's true to conclude that this election has a big impact at the national level but whatever the outcome, it is clear that the rakyat's heightened (political) awareness is enough to indicate that people are rejecting oppression and corruption," he said.

While PKR election chief Azmin Ali, too, appeared in a good mood, he refused to divulge how many seats Pakatan is confident of taking over.

"We have received feedback and while we do not want to rest on our laurels and will fight hard in the next 24 hours, we believe that our position will be 'cukup selesa' (very comfortable)," he said.

Malaysiakini has learnt, through party insiders, that Pakatan is confident of winning 25 seats of the 71 state assembly seats up for grabs.

This number could be revised in a final assessment meeting by PKR at 3pm today.

The coalition will need 24 seats to deny BN a two-thirds majority and 36 to win government.

Fears of unprecedented vote-buying

PKR will not hold their usual 'Grand Finale' rally tonight, leaving it instead to DAP.

There is heightened fear of "rough tactics and vote-buying" which PKR claims has reared its ugly head in the past 24 hours.

Sarawak PKR representative Granda Aing, who has been monitoring the Bidayuh and Iban-majority seats, said he had received reports from those who accepted money from undisclosed persons as inducement for votes.

"We receive reports of village chiefs getting RM6,000 while voters are getting up to RM2,000 per person throughout the state,” said Granda.

“I think you know who (was giving the money)," he added.

BN deputy chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin has however vehemently denied that the ruling coalition was engaged in such practices.

BN has characterised the 10th Sarawak election as the "toughest in Sarawak political history". The coalition conceded eight seats in 2006.- mkini