GE-13 won't be in May but may be June onwards - EC chairman

KUCHING- It is almost certain that the 13th general election (GE13) will not be held before June.

The Election Commission (EC) chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said it was very unlikely that GE13 would be before June as up to now they had yet to receive any signal that parliament would be dissolved earlier than that.

“If polling were to be in May then parliament must be dissolved in April or March. Right now we have no indication whatsoever that election would be called before June. At least there must be some signal given to me,” he said.

He said this when responding to questions from the media at a news conference after the launch of election briefing for returning officers (RO) and assistant returning officers (ARO) here yesterday.

When asked if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had given him any hint that election would be soon, Abdul Aziz replied: “No, nothing to that effect. He only talked on other things”.

Earlier, the EC chairman said the commission should be ready for GE13 by June this year.

He said that the EC had alomost finished its first round of briefing for RO and ARO, adding there was still another round to go before the coming election.

“We have fixed the dates for the second round of our briefing for our officers but it is not to be revealed,” he said.

He explained that Sarawak was the last state to hold the briefing and Kuching held its briefing yesterday to be followed by Sibu on Apr 12 and Miri will be on Apr 16.

Abdul Aziz disclosed that in the coming election EC would introduce several new features, including no more objection time during nomination day, no more withdrawal by candidates whose names had been recorded by respective RO, use of indelible ink and advanced voting among others.

“Because of this we have to give very detailed briefing to the election workers as we could not afford to make mistake in the conduct of the election,” he added.

-theborneopost.com