Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday he would work to realise his election promises following a resounding victory rather than bog down in opposition claims of electoral fraud and irregularities.

"The election is over. I have major work ahead of me. We got a huge mandate. We will work hard to realise what we promised," he told reporters.

Asked to comment about the irregularity accusations, Abdullah said: "That is a matter for the Election Commission. Not for me."

Islamic opposition party PAS said on Wednesday electoral fraud and irregularities led to the government's landslide victory in the weekend election and that it would challenge the results in court.

PAS retained control in its northern stronghold state of Kelantan with the slimmest of majorities after a recount, but lost power in neighbouring Terengganu and was thumped in elections to the federal parliament.

Pressure mounted yesterday on Election Commission chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman to quit over his handling of the polls, which gave the government a landslide victory.

Polls badly managed

Local watchdog Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections said Sunday's polls were badly managed and should be nullified.

"The election commission chief and his entire team must resign. An independent commission must be formed to study all the weaknesses," Khairul Anuar, secretary of the watchdog, said in a statement.

Opposition parties said irregularities in the electoral roll kept thousands of voters from the ballot box.

The Election Commission (EC) was forced to extend voting by two hours in central Selangor state after discrepancies in the rolls saw the names of many voters missing from the lists.

It also nullified the vote for a state seat in central Pahang and postponed polling until March 28 after a mix-up of party symbols in the ballot papers.

Abdullah said a new cabinet would be formed before next Wednesday when the it meets for the first time after March 21 polls.

Asked whether the victory would translate into economic growth of more than six percent, he said, "I think we are going to show better growth."

In February, the central bank said Malaysia's economy was poised for sharper growth after expanding 5.2 percent in 2003, beating the official target of 4.5 percent due to an upturn in foreign investment and exports in the fourth quarter. - AFP