KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S opposition parties plan to mount their first concerted, nationwide attack against the government at elections next month, hoping to end the ruling coalition's 50-year-old political dominance.

The three main opposition parties, financially weak and split along ideological lines, have failed since 1969 to pose any serious threat to the coalition's grip on power, often fighting each other as well as government candidates at election time.

But the trio showed they had finally coordinated their electoral strategies on Friday, when the last list of opposition candidates for the March 8 poll was announced by Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the party of de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

'It shows that we can stand together as a united force,' Keadilan deputy president Syed Husin Ali said, explaining the opposition planned to stand just one candidate against the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in each of the 222 federal seats.

'This will mean no split votes in our fight against the Barisan Nasional as our chances of winning will be greater.'

Keadlian named candidates for all electorates except those in Sabah and Sarawak states, on Borneo island, where Mr Syed Husin said the opposition also planned to coordinate their attack.

Keadilan and the other two opposition parties - the hardline Islamist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) and the mainly ethnic Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party - wasted many opposition votes in the last 2004 election with three-cornered contests.

In that election, the opposition won almost 35 percent of the vote but only nine per cent of seats in the federal parliament.

The opposition parties admit they cannot topple Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government and limit themselves to the goal of denying him a two-thirds majority, the level required to change the constitution.

It is also a psychological benchmark that Barisan, which has ruled Malaysia in various forms since independence from Britain in 1957, says is needed to ensure political stability.

The last time the coalition failed to win a two-thirds majority, in 1969, deadly race riots erupted between majority ethnic Malays and minority Chinese.

But despite a coordinated election strategy, the opposition remains divided.

PAS, which stands for a strict Islamic state and advocates punishments such as stoning and amputation, is watched with suspicion by the DAP, which includes non-Muslims, mostly Buddhist ethnic Chinese and Hindu ethnic Indians, among its members.

Dr Anwar's party, Keadilan, tries to bridge the gap with its appeal to the moderates among Malaysia's Malays and ethnic minorities. -- REUTERS