Malaysia votes on Nov 19; nominations for candidates on Nov 5
Tan Ai Leng
MALAYSIANS will head to the ballot boxes on Nov 19, with nominations for candidates taking place a fortnight earlier on Nov 5.
This means the campaign period for the 15th general election will last for 14 days, longer than the 11 days for the last general election in 2018.
Election Commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh announced the dates at a press conference in Putrajaya on Thursday (Oct 20), 10 days after Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved parliament to trigger the snap election.
Abdul Ghani said the elections will cost the country about RM1.01 billion (S$310 million). Polling Day takes place amid growing concerns that it coincides with the start of Malaysia’s annual monsoon season, which typically begins in the middle of November and causes heavy storms and flooding.
Voters will cast their ballots for a total of 222 parliamentary seats and 113 state seats. This excludes the 110 state seats for Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Penang, which have maintained their stance of not dissolving their state assemblies to hold state polls this year.
About 21.1 million Malaysians, including five million first-time young voters, are eligible to vote next month, up 40 per cent from the 15 million eligible voters at the 2018 election.
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Following parliament’s dissolution, the RM372.3 billion Budget 2023, tabled by Finance Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz on Oct 6, has been put on hold. Ismail promised that he would retable the same budget by the end of the year if he was given the mandate to serve as prime minister again.
A highlight of the upcoming polls is the candidacy of two-time former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who announced that he will defend the Langkawi parliamentary seat and is willing to lead the country again “if there is a request”.
The 97-year-old politician previously joined hands with former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition – which in 2018 defeated the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition which had governed Malaysia for over six decades.
However, the PH government only lasted for two years due to political infighting. This led to the return of the BN’s largest constituent party Umno, after Umno vice-president Ismail was appointed as the ninth prime minister by Malaysia’s King with the support of 114 members of parliament.
For the Nov 19 election, Anwar, the chairman of PH, has turned down Mahathir’s offer of cooperation as he feels “the former prime minister’s stance on matters is inconsistent”.
Separately, BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the coalition will be contesting 191 parliamentary seats in the upcoming polls. The coalition needs to win at least 112 parliamentary seats to form a government.
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