Peril of March 8 for PM Najib Razak

On the 8 March, logically the 12th parliament has ended and any government of the day should relinquish its duty and responsibility immediate to a caretaker government. A government which has not seek a new mandate after the end of its term does not have any moral ground to continue governing the country.

This is a serious issue and our Election Commission should have stepped in to urge the current administration to announce a date for new elections. Granted that the government has a moratorium period to call for the next elections but it has to take the initiative to announce a date immediately after the 5-year period ends.

This is a serious challenge to the EC to prove its impartiality. I hope EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof will seek an understanding from PM Najib Razak to set the dissolution and polling dates and announce them to the public.

A failure to do so will put the independent EC in a bad light. There should be no more excuses and the ruling regime should be reminded that its right to call for dissolution is restricted and governed by the Federal Constitution. It does not own the GE.

EC and political parties should respect the Federal Constitution and the rule of law which provided the GE as a mechanism for the people to exercise their democratic rights to choose the government of the day.

The legitimacy of the current regime has ended on 8 March. Period. A new election has to be called if the current regime wants to safeguard its credibility.

Prolonging the next GE is only going to erode the support for PM Najib.

-http://khookaypeng.blogspot.com