The vast crowds showing up for political rallies by both Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition have astonished even some of their supporters, with as many as 60,000 people showing up to cheer each of them on.

Political observers report that Barisan Nasional cadres further down the list from Najib draw smaller crowds, while Pakatan Rakyat numbers are uniformly huge. Here we present some of the pictures of political rallies by opposition supporters.

Even Anwar doesn’t acknowledges the huge turnouts don't necessarily translate into votes for the election, to be held on May 5. The opposition drew similar crowds in 2008 but lost the election by a margin of 46.75 percent of the popular vote to 50.27 for the Barisan Nasional. The remainder went to splinter parties and independents.

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader, however, told reporters the numbers could reflect some "measure of enthusiasm" that can be taken as a positive sign for the federal opposition pact ahead of the May 5 polls.

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