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M. Continuo

Anwar sworn in as MP in Malaysian parliament


    KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's leading opposition figure, Anwar Ibrahim, was sworn in on Thursday, taking his parliamentary seat after a decade-long absence following convictions for sodomy and corruption.

    Anwar won a sweeping victory in a by-election on Tuesdayand returns to parliament just in time to join Friday's 2009budget announcement and debate.

    Before his fall from grace in the late 1990s, Anwar wasdeputy prime minister in the government that has ruled Malaysiafor 50 years and which he now hopes to topple in a confidencevote in September.

    Anwar's three-party coalition of reformers, Islamists andan ethnic Chinese party has 82 MPs in parliament and hopes towin over 30 government legislators so as to have a majority inthe 222-member chamber.

    But Anwar faces court on September 10 to answer new chargesof sodomy after allegations by a male aide. Anwar says thelatest sodomy case is politically motivated and designed toscuttle his quest to lead the country and reform the economy.

    He was freed from jail in 2004 after a court quashed hisearlier sodomy conviction but was still banned from seekingoffice until April 2008.

    Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is a crimepunishable by up to 20 years in prison in mainly MuslimMalaysia.

    (Reporting by David Chance; Editing by David Fogarty)