Malaysian Opposition Leader Mahathir Says Opposition Could Win in Next Month’s Elections

Malaysian opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad said Wednesday that huge rallies indicate some of the ruling coalition’s traditional Malay supporters are now favoring the opposition and a change of government is possible in next month’s elections.

Mahathir, Asia’s longest-serving political leader until retiring after 22 years in 2003, is now leading a four-party alliance to oust scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak in the May 9 elections. Najib’s ruling coalition has increasingly depended on the Malay Muslim majority in poor rural areas to retain power after urban middle-class voters flocked to the opposition in the past two elections.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the 92-year-old Mahathir said Malay support for the opposition has undergone an obvious increase, citing unusually huge turnouts at rallies.

Mahathir said the opposition wouldn’t need every government supporter to change their mind. “We need maybe 30 percent of them to turn around — that would be sufficient for us to win,” he said.

Yet, Mahathir predicted only a 50-50 chance of victory for the opposition “because of the government’s tendency to cheat, to threaten people, to use money, to even block the election process.”

Najib, 64, has been dogged by a massive corruption scandal involving the 1MDB state investment fund, which he set up and previously led. The fund accumulated massive debt, and the U.S. and other countries are investigating possible cross-border embezzlement and money laundering. Najib himself has denied wrongdoing and has fired critics and muzzled reporting on the…