Malaysia's opposition alliance has enough support from MPs to oust the government and wants to meet with the country's premier to plan a handover, leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday.

Anwar declined to spell out what his majority would be in 222-member assembly, but he needs 30 MPs to cross the floor to join his 82-strong opposition bloc.

"We have enough strength to form the government. Once we meet the prime minister, we will abide by the constitution and seek the consent of the king," Anwar told a news conference.

The government scoffed at claims by Anwar that he had secured a parliamentary majority, dismissing talk of losing power as "the politics of deception".

"I am confident that the Barisan government will continue to rule," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak earlier told journalists.

"This is the politics of deception, deployed to deceive, and clearly it has not become a reality."

But the government has come under heavy pressure from the opposition since losing its two-thirds parliamentary majority in March for the first time since independence over half a century ago.

Anwar's rise has been mirrored by a sharp fall in the government's popularity and there have been calls for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down.

Anwar says that, if he forms the next government, he will root out corruption and end a system of affirmative action for ethnic Malays, more than half of the 27 million population.

The opposition says that the system has not only failed the people it was aimed at helping but has also created a class of crony businessmen who are dependent on the government. - Reuters