PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim fears “massive fraud” as the main factor that could prevent a Pakatan Rakyat win in the general election this Sunday.

Anwar, in an interview with Australian broadcaster the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), said he was upbeat about a simple majority win on May 5, but cited electoral fraud as the coalition’s biggest stumbling block.

NONE When asked what would prevent a Pakatan win, he said, “Massive fraud.

“We have presented our case based on the March electoral roll where we find even postal voters who are actually designated there as Bangladeshis or Pakistanis or Indonesians, but they are supposed to serve the army or the police.

“So clearly there's a fraud there,” said Anwar in an interview broadcast yesterday and available as a podcast on their website.

He repeated Pakatan’s claim on Tuesday that phantom voters were allegedly being flown in from Sabah to vote in Selangor but hopes that the surge of pro-opposition young voters will neutralise this.

“We've had thus far more than 28,000 designated as Philippines or Indonesians who are voters based in Sabah but voting in Kuala Lumpur or Selangor.

“And there has not been a satisfactory response from the election commission but not withstanding this, we feel that the clamour for reform, the upsurge, particularly among the younger generation, is so pervasive and strong that there's 2 or 3 per cent fraudulent electoral names will not alter the results,” he said.

Australia’s hands off slammed

Speaking to ABC’s correspondent Zoe Daniel in KL, Anwar said the was upbeat about Pakatan’s chances nevertheless.

“We have been enormously successful in our penetration into the rural heartland particularly around Johor, Sabah and Sarawak where we failed miserably in 2008.

When asked about Australia’s failure to send election observers, he said the country’s stand was contradictory to its foreign policy that supports democratic processes.

“We're not asking them to support any party. We're asking them to remain consistent with Australian foreign policy position in support of freedom and democracy.

“Why do you (Australians) make so much noise about Iraq? Or Afghanistan? Or Myanmar? And mute it with regard to Malaysia? Is it (due to) business interests or investments?

He added that maintaining strong bilateral ties with the present Najib administration was not an excuse for Australia to “ignore the importance of Malaysia to conduct a fair free elections”.