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Permatang Pauh: She was an accidental opposition leader, and the wife of Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ebrahim said on Thursday she is ready to "fade into the sunset" as soon as her husband officially steps back into the political arena.
Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, 55, a former eye surgeon and mother of six, has the only seat in parliament held by the opposition Keadilan (Justice) party that Anwar now leads and faces a tough fight to hold onto it in tomorrow's general election.
The Permatang Pauh constituency used to be Anwar's seat when he was the heir apparent to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. That was before he was sacked, charged with corruption and sodomy, and jailed for six years when he turned against his boss in the midst of 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
"It is natural that Anwar takes over, having been the MP for this area for many years," Wan Azizah said in an interview at her headquarters in the Peace Foundation set up by her husband. "I get applause every time I say 'if you voters want it, of course I will step aside for Anwar'."
Anwar, 60, is prohibited from running for office until April due to his corruption conviction. But political analysts expect Wan Azizah to resign if she wins the election so her husband could contest a by-election for that seat.
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