Clash of titans brings a gripping polls to Malaysia

Malaysia's general election this week will be an extraordinary contest, pitting a 92-year-old former authoritarian leader and a jailed reformist he fell out with 20 years ago against a prime minister who has been mired in a multi-billion-dollar scandal.

Few doubt that Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has ruled Malaysia for the six decades since independence, will triumph in tomorrow's poll.

But a robust challenge from the opposition - spearheaded by nonagenarian Mahathir Mohamad, the country's longest-serving prime minister, and his one-time protege Anwar Ibrahim - has produced the most hotly contested election yet.

"Momentum is with the opposition, but we believe it is unlikely that they will pull off a surprise victory," said the Eurasia Group consultancy, which put the odds of a win for Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) at 15 percent.

However, the political risk group's Asia director, Peter Mumford, said there is a danger for the ruling coalition that it will fare worse than the 2013 election, when for the first time it lost the popular vote but still won with 133 of parliament's 222 seats.

Under Malaysia's simple majority system, the party that gets the most seats in parliament wins even if it does not secure the popular vote.

An unconvincing victory would leave Najib, 64, with reduced political clout and he could face pressure from within his party to stand aside ahead of the next election, Mumford said.