PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Oct 20 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysians will go to the polls on Nov 19 in the country’s 15th general election (GE15), which is set to witness more than 21 million people voting to elect a new government.
Malaysian Election Commission on Thursday announced that candidate nominations will take place on Nov 5, providing for a 14-day campaigning period.
A total of 222 parliamentary seats are up for grabs in the GE15 to enable a new government to be formed to govern the country and its 32.4 million population.
The general election will also involve the states of Perak, Pahang and Perlis holding their state elections simultaneously. The rest of the states already had their elections or had decided to stay out of the GE15.
Caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had announced the dissolution of Parliament effective Oct 10 to pave the way for GE15, after obtaining the consent of the Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
Concerns had been raised that the polls were being held close to Malaysia’s annual monsoon season that brings intense rain and flooding, which usually begins in mid-November .
The five-year mandate of the current government will expire in July 2023, and according to Article 55 (4) of the Federal Constitution the GE15 must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the Parliament.
The country’s long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance is looking to win enough seats to retain federal power outright after its shock defeat at the 2018 polls. However, this time, it will challenged by at least two major opposition blocs – Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Former prime minister and nonagenarian Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will also join the fray through his coalition Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA).
There has been uncertainties in Malaysian politics since the collapse of the PH administration in 2020, less than two years after it defeated BN in 2018.
Malaysia has seen three prime ministers in three years, and the last two administrations had only a single-digit majority in Parliament. Five Malaysian states have gone through administration changes caused by defections since 2020.
— NNN-BERNAMA