GE13: Polls date likely by end of April

The Star
by RAZAK AHMAD and MAZWIN NIK ANIS

PETALING JAYA: Now that the Dewan Rakyat has been dissolved to pave way for the 13th general election, the focus is on polling, which is expected to be held before the end of this month.

However, we will have to wait a few more days for the exact date because the Election Commission will only decide next week as seven states did not dissolve their legislatures yesterday.

Despite no clear indication, the most speculated polling date is April 27, which is a Saturday when most Malaysian elections have been held, with nomination at least 11 days earlier on April 16.

Under the Constitution, polling must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the De-wan Rakyat.

For the 2008 general election, the Dewan Rakyat was dissolved on Feb 13 that year, the EC gave itself 10 days to prepare for nomination, which was fixed for Feb 24 with polling on March 8. This means a gap of 25 days between dissolution and polling.

Polling in the past two general elections took place on a weekend. So, if the trend continues, the first available weekend 25 days after dissolution is April 27.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the commission was waiting for all states to notify it of their dissolution before meeting early next week to decide on the nomination and polling dates.

“Hopefully, by the end of Thursday (today), we would have received notification on the dissolution of all state assemblies by the respective speakers,” he told The Star.

At press time, Malacca, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu, Pahang and Sabah had dissolved their state assemblies while Johor and the four Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states of Kedah, Kelantan, Selangor and Penang are expected to disband their legislatures today.

With the dissolution of Parliament, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat have hit the ground running for their showdown.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will chair the Umno supreme council meeting at 9am today, followed by a session with Barisan component party presidents.

On Saturday, the Prime Minister will unveil the Barisan manifesto at a Perhimpunan Janji 1Malaysia Rakyat Didahulukan event at Stadium Putra in Bukit Jalil.

The Pakatan leadership council will hold a meeting on elections preparations today at the PKR headquarters here.