PETALING JAYA (April 3): The prime minister finally announced the dissolution of Parliament today, paving the way for the much awaited 13th general election.
Speaking on national television TV1 at 11.30am, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he received Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah's consent for the dissolution at Istana Negara earlier in the day.
"I have sought an audience with the King and the King has consented to the dissolution of the 12th Parliament on April 3 in accordance to the Federal Constitution. With this I urge all state leaders to seek an audience with the respective rulers to obtain their consent to do the same to facilitate simultaneous elections.
"Today, four years ago on April 3, 2009, I took an oath to shoulder the responsibility (of leading the country) and during that time, the deputy prime minister, the cabinet ministers and I have executed changes based on the 1Malaysia concept and the National Transformation Policy. We have witnessed that over these four years, Malaysians have prospered under these policies," said Najib in his speech.
The legislative assemblies of all states, except Sarawak, are also dissolved to facilitate simultaneous elections.
The Election Commission is expected to make an announcement later today on when it will be meeting to decide the dates for nomination and polling.
Article 55 (4) of the Federal Constitution requires election to be held within 60 days of the dissolution of Parliament.
And the law now also requires a minimum of 10 days of official campaigning, which refers to the period between nomination day and midnight before the day of voting.
An April 27 election appears possible based on the past trend of having polling on a Saturday.
In 2008, Parliament was dissolved on Feb 13, followed by nomination day on Feb 24 with polling taking place on March 8.
In that election, Barisan Nasional lost its two-thirds majority in the 222-seat Parliament, winning only 140 seats against 198 in the 2004 election.
BN also lost five state governments - Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan to Pakatan Rakyat. (It regained control of Perak following the defection of three opposition state assemblypersons).
Prior to 2008, BN had failed to garner a two-thirds majority in Parliament only once - in 1969.
Based on the latest electoral rolls, as of December last year, 13.3 million people are eligible to vote.
A total of 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats (excluding Sarawak's 99 seats) will be contested in the coming general election.
At the time of dissolution, the BN had 137 seats in the Dewan Rakyat with the rest held by the DAP (29), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) (23), PAS (22), Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanahair (KITA) (one) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) (one). Eight seats were held by independent MPs. There's one vacant seat – Titiwangsa which was held by the late Dr Lo' Lo' Mohd Ghazali of PAS.
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