PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be the next parliamentary opposition leader until her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, wins a parliament seat.

anwar ibrahim lim kit siang hadi awang In a joint statement, PKR de facto leader Anwar, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said they had agreed to this arrangement at a meeting last night.

“We agree to propose Wan Azizah of PKR, which is the biggest opposition party in the 12th Parliament, as the parliamentary opposition leader until Anwar qualifies to stand for elections,” the statement read.

Lim, the previous parliamentary opposition leader, said in a separate statement yesterday: “Wan Azizah is the ideal candidate as the new parliamentary opposition leader with PKR having the most parliamentary seats of the three opposition parties in Parliament.

pkr keadilan agm 2006 050906 wan azizah “I support Azizah (right) as the opposition leader for the 12th Parliament and Anwar as the parliamentary opposition leader when he is re-elected to Parliament after the expiry of his civil disenfranchisement barring him from standing for elective office in mid-April.”

The ban on Anwar’s involvement in active politics ends on April 15, but he has been vague to date as to which seat will be vacated for him to contest in a by-election.

Wan Azizah has already offered her Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat, which she retained with a convincing majority of 13,388 votes.

Stronger opposition cooperation

Anwar had held the seat previously on a Barisan Nasional ticket, but was expelled from Umno and his government posts in 1998, and then jailed for six years after a conviction in 1999 for corrupt practice.

Anwar, Lim and Hadi Awang, in their statement, further said the wishes of the people as manifested during the elections must be respected and implemented by them and their parties.

“We agree that a stronger form of cooperation must be seriously considered, taking cognisance of the desires of the people for the formation of a new government for the federation and the states that can bring major changes for the rakyat,” they said.

On March 8, the opposition won an unprecedented 82 of 222 Parliament seats, denying Barisan Nasional a two-thirds majority, and also gained control in Perak, Penang, Selangor and Kedah. PAS retained Kelantan.

PKR won 31 parliamentary seats to DAP’s 28 and PAS’ 23 seats.