PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will hold its 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19, said the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday (Oct 20).
Nomination Day will be on Nov 5, while early voting is set to be held on Nov 15, said EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh.
On Oct 10, caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that parliament has been dissolved, paving the way for national elections to be held before the end of the year.
The states of Perak, Perlis and Pahang have also dissolved their legislatures and state polls will be held concurrently with the national elections.
Six other states – three under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and the other three led by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) – decided not to dissolve their assemblies for now.
The three states under PH are Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang while the states under PAS rule are Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah.
PAS is a member of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition together with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), among others.
The state assemblies of Sabah, Sarawak, Johor and Melaka are out of the equation as polls were held recently.
An election had not been due until September 2023, but Mr Ismail Sabri had been under pressure from some factions of his ruling coalition to hold the vote earlier.
On Sep 30, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) supreme council decided that parliament must be dissolved soon so that GE15 can be held this year.
UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering, had been very vocal in pushing for snap polls, ostensibly to seek a fresh mandate from the people.
UMNO’s call for an early GE15 has been criticised by the opposition and Mr Ismail Sabri’s own Cabinet members as Malaysia’s Meteorological Department has warned of floods during the north-east monsoon season, which typically starts in November and ends in March.
Following the dissolution of parliament, Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said he had no choice but to consent to the dissolution of the parliament.
In a statement on Oct 10, Comptroller of the Royal Household of Istana Negara, Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, said that the ruler was disappointed with the current political developments in the country.