EC preparing for snap polls?

Voter registration continues as EC prepares for snap polls

The Election Commission (EC) has begun to prepare for the 13th general elections as parliament enters its fourth year of the Barisan Nasional (BN) mandate from Election 2008.

But EC deputy chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said voter registration will still continue all year round with electoral rolls being gazetted every three months, dismissing speculation the commission will stop signing up voters this month.

“Usually, when we enter the fourth year after the previous general election, preparations will be made ... we make early preparations in Year 4 and use that as a sign,” Wan Ahmad told The Malaysian Insider.

He also pointed out that the three-year period for by-elections to be held under the Elections Act had passed and the EC could now prepare for the general election.

“We have done all sorts of preparations ... early preparation like logistics, determining polling centres, printing guidelines, all kinds of preparation,” said Wan Ahmad.

“Other forms of preparation like the training of workers and election officers will be done about one or two months before (the election),” he added.

The last general election, the 12th since independence in 1957, was held in March 2008 or at the end of the fourth year of that term by then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He was succeeded in April 2009 by Datuk Seri Najib Razak, whose coalition mandate ends in April 2013. State elections must also be held between the end of April and May 2013.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim predicted recently that Najib will call general elections before August this year.

Political analysts, however, are speculating that the prime minister is likely to delay snap polls until the end of this year or early 2012 as he and his cabinet tour the country to assess conditions on the ground and also work on getting more support in states held by Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact.

The Najib administration recently embarked on its latest round of subsidy cuts on essential goods like electricity, a move that could rouse voter unhappiness. But the prime minister has also initiated various projects under his New Economic Model (NEM) with a view to making Malaysia a high-income nation by 2020.

By G Manimaran, The Malaysian Insider

Anwar predicts election this year

Michael Kaung

The 38% increase in native votes in favour of the opposition in Sarawak is a 'clear' indication of change, says the PKR chief.

KOTA KINABALU: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has a gut feeling that the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership will call for a snap general election in July this year.

“With all these issues – religion, sex video, my court case and abduction threat to my daughter Nurul Izzah – it is a clear message that the election is coming very soon,” he said.

The former finance minister urged party leaders to work hard and update their respective election machinery in preparation for the 13th general election.

“We must get ourselves ready in facing the coming general election which is expected to be held in July this year,” Anwar told a news conference after meeting with top party leaders from Sabah at its headquarters in Penampang near here yesterday.

Anwar arrived here on Saturday for a series of public talks and meet-the-people sessions in Pitas, Kota Marudu, Kota Belud and here.

After meeting with Sabah PKR leaders, Anwar left for Sandakan.

He said that it was the responsibility of PKR under Pakatan Rakyat to fight for the people in getting back their ancestral land that had been taken away from them.

Anwar also touched on the on-going discussion among the opposition parties, particularly between Sabah PKR and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), as part of their preparations in taking on the ruling BN in the coming general election.

“We’re hoping the negotiation will go on smoothly as long as the decision does not breach the PKR constitution,” he said.

Changing voter trend
 On the recent Sarawak state election, Anwar said the outcome of the election indicated a wind of change in favour of the opposition.

He said the 38% increase in votes from the natives in certain areas in Sarawak was a clear message that the voting trend had changed and was now favouring the opposition.

He attributed this to the corrupt BN’s politics.

Anwar also pointed out the need to review the existing Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 to allow Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan and Terengganu to control 20% of their own oil and gas.

“We want this 20% for these four states. We want to change the Act and every single contract must be transparent and open to all Malaysians; the decision is not with the prime minister alone.”

Anwar said it was clear that under the existing law only the prime minister has the right to approve any contract in Petronas and the company did not even have to report to the finance minister.

Also present were PKR Kota Kinabalu divisional chief Christina Liew and Darell Leiking, who heads the Penampang division

General election tops agenda of BN meeting

The Barisan Nasional is set to conduct an election dry run soon to gear up for the coming parliamentary polls.

KUALA LUMPUR: Preparations for the 13th general election will be the top agenda of the Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting this Friday, as the coalition is set to conduct an election dry run soon, said BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.



He said that a paper on holding the dry run would be presented during the meeting as the coalition was expected to undergo the dry run after the Umno election dry run in July.

“We are likely to touch on the Sarawak (state) election performance, analyse the election results, touch on voter registration and I will be putting up the paper for the election dry runs.

“All these are related to the general election preparation as we have to get ready and gear up for it,” he told Bernama here today.

Tengku Adnan said BN must prepare itself to face the general election by learning lessons from the several by-elections held and the recently-concluded Sarawak election so that it would be able to counter the opposition onslaught.

This included studying the voting patterns exhibited by the voters in Singapore’s 14th general election last Saturday as part of its preparations for the general election.

Sarawak-based BN components are also expected to present their post-mortem reports during the meeting as the coalition will use their inputs in drafting strategies for the next general election.

“We will look into various aspects in order to stengthen our overall preparation for the next general election,” said Tengku Adnan.

In the Sarawak election held on April 16, BN won 54 out of the 71 seats, retaining its two-thirds majority in the State Legislative Assembly.

The biggest contribution was from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) which won all its 35 seats, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) won eight of the nine seats it contested and Sarawak Progressive Democratic party (SPDP) won six out of eight seats.

Another component, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), faced its worst ever election performance when the party only won six out of the 19 seats contested.

Sabah-based Liberal Democratic Party president VK Liew said the review of BN’s Sarawak election performance would be important for the coalition as it needed to look into its weaknesses in order to prepare itself better for the coming general election.

“Normally, whenever we have an election, we have the chance to study how effective our machineries are. It’s a consistent learning curve that enables us to fine-tune and improve ourselves for a bigger battle,” he said.

- Bernama