Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader, took the first step on Tuesday towards his goal of trying to seize power from the long-ruling National Front government by taking a parliamentary seat in a by-election after a decade’s absence.

The solid size of his winning majority against a government and an independent candidate is likely to strengthen his effort to persuade disaffected government MPs to support him in a no-confidence vote against the administration of Abdullah Badawi by mid-September.