MALAYSIA'S opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he is running out of options to unseat the government, seven months after reducing the ruling coalition's majority to the smallest since independence in 1957, Bloomberg news reported on Thursday.

Datuk Seri Anwar, 61, missed deadlines he set to have coalition lawmakers defect to the opposition and parliament conduct a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The premier's response was to accelerate a power handover to his deputy, Najib Razak.

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