EARLY results showed a slender lead for Malaysia’s ruling coalition in today’s general election with Prime Minister Najib Razak expected to remain in power with a reduced majority.

He faced a strong challenge by former authoritarian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad who led the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, allied with Anwar Ibrahim who was sentenced to prison for sodomy in 2014.

Human rights groups condemned the jailing of Mr Ibrahim as politically motivated, with the opposition politician advocating a change to Malaysia’s “archaic” laws which criminalise homosexual activity.

Mr Mohamad promised to pardon Mr Ibrahim if elected prime minister and hand over the role to him. He led Malaysia from 1981-2003 and described handing over power to Mr Najib as “the biggest mistake of my life.”

The former prime minister apologised “for many of the mistakes” he made during his time in power, which was marked by the jailing of political opponents, including Mr Anwar who he sacked in 1998.

The election was marred by controversy with candidates for the country’s 14th general election claiming their phones were being “spammed” with anonymous calls on the morning of the poll.

It prompted calls for “immediate action” from Mr Najib as the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition said its leaders were coming under “technical attack” in a cyber war to stop them communicating with each other.

Mr Mohamad claimed opposition candidates including himself had also been subjected to the spam calls as the Malaysian Communications and Media Commission blamed a “bot attack with differing targets irrespective of the political parties.”

Around 15 million Malaysians went to the polls with voting taking place for 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state assembly seats across 12 states.