PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s Election Commission will have a special meeting at 10am on Thursday (Oct 20) to discuss and set important dates for the 15th General Election.
The meeting will be chaired by Commission Chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh and held at Menara SPR in Putrajaya.
The dates for nomination, early voting and polling days, as well as the issuing of the election writ and the electoral roll are expected to be announced on Thursday at noon after the meeting.
The meeting was arranged following the dissolution of the 14th parliament by Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob last Monday, after receiving consent from the king.
The commission is also expected to set and announce important dates for the state by-election for Bugaya in Sabah.
The Bugaya by-election was announced following the death of Manis Muka Mohd Darah on Nov 17, 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, the king consented to the revocation of six ordinances and proclamations of emergency promulgated in 2020 that prevented by-elections from being held in Batu Sapi, Gerik and Bugaya amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the dissolution of Parliament, Mr Ismail Sabri recommended that all states – except Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and Johor, which have not yet reached maturity – dissolve their respective assemblies to enable state and parliamentary elections to be held at the same time.
Sabah, Melaka, Sarawak and Johor held their state elections on September 2020, November 2021, December 2021 and March 2022 respectively.
A few states have decided to not hold their state polls at the same time as the parliamentary elections, by not dissolving their state assemblies.
These are Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah, which are under PAS’ administration, and the Pakatan Harapan states of Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan.
Since the dissolution of parliament, only the Barisan Nasional-led states of Perak, Perlis and Pahang have dissolved their state assemblies. This means that state polls for these three places will be held concurrently with the national elections.