Ruling Party Splits Vote With Fundamentalists
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MALAYSIA
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Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s ruling party split a by-election with Muslim fundamentalists who want to declare Malaysia a hard-line Islamic state.
The archrivals were contesting the state assembly and national Parliament seats that came open after the death last month of Fadzil Noor, leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS.
The fundamentalists retained the assembly seat and built an early, 2,000-vote lead for the parliamentary seat. But Mahathir’s ruling United Malays National Organization party pulled ahead.
The PAS demanded a recount, which confirmed that the ruling party had won the parliamentary seat by 283 votes out of 45,730 cast.
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