Malaysia’s top opposition leader filed nomination papers Saturday for a Parliament by-election that he is expected to win easily _ the first step in his bid to bring down the government and become prime minister.

Tens of thousands of cheering supporters escorted Anwar Ibrahim to the nomination center where he formally registered for the Aug. 26 election in the northern state of Penang.

“I am touched by the overwhelming support. It is no longer just a by-election. It is a lot more than that,” said Anwar.

The massive show of support is a demonstration of Anwar’s popularity despite being recently charged with sodomizing a 23-year-old male aide, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in jail. Anwar says that and a similar charge in 1998 were the result of political conspiracies to prevent him from becoming prime minister.

The latest accusation came as his People’s Alliance opposition coalition has become a serious threat to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s National Front coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957.

Analysts predict a comfortable win for Anwar, who held the Permatang Pauh seat in the northern Penang state between 1982 and 1999, when he was ousted from the government and put on trial for corruption and allegedly sodomizing his family driver.

He was convicted and imprisoned, but was freed in 2004 after Malaysia’s top court quashed the sodomy conviction. However, the corruption conviction remained, which barred him from holding political office until April 2008.

His wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, from Permatang Pauh, has held the seat for since 1999. She vacated it last month so that Anwar could reclaim it with the by-election.

“This is not just any by-election. It is about the next Malaysian leader,” said Lim Guan Eng, a top leader of the Democratic Action Party, a junior opposition coalition partner with Anwar’s party. “Permatang Pauh voters have a heavy burden. They are deciding the destiny of the country.”

Also contesting in the election are two independent candidates, including one who is a formal member of Anwar’s party.

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Associated Press writer Vijay Joshi in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.