Parliament is dissolved, finally
By Debra Chong
Assistant News Editor
April 03, 2013
Assistant News Editor
April 03, 2013
The Malaysian Insider understands that a general election
may be held as soon as April 20 or a week later on April 27, depending
on the Election Commission’s (EC) arrangements.
The prime minister said he met with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong this
morning and received His Majesty’s consent to dissolve Parliament. It is
understood that 11 state assemblies will also be dissolved today and
tomorrow to facilitate the general election. The Negri Sembilan state
assembly was dissolved automatically on March 27 while Sarawak had its
state election in April 2012.
The last general election was on March 8, 2008 but Najib, who took
office exactly four years ago today, has taken his time to dissolve
Parliament.
“If I was the prime minister, I would have called for elections last
year. All this waiting... one month, two months, three months... it just
never stops,” Najib’s mentor and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad told a news conference on March 27.
The EC will meet in the next few days to set the dates for
nominations and polling that must he held within 60 days of the
commission receiving the notices of dissolution from the state
legislative assemblies that have yet to be dissolved.
Politicians from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and opposition
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) are fighting for 222 parliamentary seats and 505
state seats in Election 2013, which The Malaysian Insider understands will be held within the month.
A source had disclosed that there will be a greater number of new
faces although Najib, who is also BN chairman, is expected to retain
some veterans for continuity, especially those who scored well in the
government annual report card he had announced on March 19.
The 59-year-old whose personal approval rating has remained above 65
per cent, has been on a whirlwind circuit around the country in the past
few months to drum up support for his BN coalition in the run-up to
election.
He has trumpeted his government’s transformative achievements over
the past three years and doled out money to diverse demographic groups
in various cash schemes to aid some five million families feeling the
global economic pinch.
The move has been criticised as an attempt to sway voters for the
upcoming general election, including the controversial remark by
Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat who likened it to
feeding livestock to garner support.
Analysts have pointed out that the initiatives under the Economic
Transformation Programme and Government Transformation Programme
contributed to Malaysia’s economic growth rate of 6.4 per cent in the
fourth quarter of last year versus the same period in 2011.
Some 13.3 million voters, including 3,000-odd abroad, have registered
to vote in what is set to be the country’s most-anticipated and
closely-fought general elections.
BN officials privately predict that the ruling coalition could regain
its two-thirds supermajority by winning as many as 160 seats although
the PR pact led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is also confident of a
victory.
Independent surveys show that BN could scrape through with 117 federal seats to PR’s 105.
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