The Election Commission today announced that the nation’s 12th general election to be held on March 8, a Saturday coinciding with the school holidays. Nomination day is fixed on Feb 24, a Sunday.
This means the parties would be getting a longer campaigning period of 13 days.
In 2004, the campaigning period was only for eight days - the shortest period in the history of the nation’s elections.
Abdul Rashid said 10,922,139 were eligible to cast their votes based on the electoral roll gazetted on Feb 5.
He also said that the 13-day campaign period was adequate for all the political parties contesting in the polls.
He added that the commission took into account internal security and public order when deciding on the campaign period.
At stake will be 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats. There are no state elections in Sarawak.
The BN has maintained a comfortable two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat with its thumping win in securing 199 of the seats in 2004.
BN meeting
Also taking place today is the Barisan Nasional council meeting, which started at 9am, at the Putra World Trade Centre.BN chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is expected to finalise the candidacy list of all coalition parties. The parties are then expected to release their list of candidates in the next two or three days.
A press conference is also called by the BN immediately after their meeting this morning.
Just after the BN meeting, the Umno supreme council meeting is also slated to take place.
Party president Abdullah is expected to discuss election preparations with his fellow leaders.
Source: Malaysiakini.com
All posts in this blog are my own personal views (unless explicitly mentioned otherwise) and are not to be associated with any organization or institution related to me.