Najib to call for13th General Elections by September

It looks like the 13^th General Elections will be held sooner rather than later. Many politicians and political observers expect Prime Minister Najib Razak to call for nationwide polls after July but before October this year, when the rainy season will begin.

“I think September is the date that is currently being touted around and I agree that it is the most likely time. To delay to next year won’t be so good for the ruling government. The economy would have worsened noticeably by then and the prices of many goods would have shot up,” Ramon Navaratnam, chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies toldMalaysia Chronicle.

This year

In the aftermath of the Sarawak state polls, analysts had predicted Najib would delay the GE to 2012. The previous expectation was that national polls would follow three months after Sarawak’s unless the BN did badly.

But the BN won 55 of the 71 seats contested. However, what may have sparked a seed of doubt is that the BN also lost the Chinese support. Without this, the ruling coalition may be hard-pressed to regain the two-thirds parliamentary majority snatched away by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat coalition in 2008.

“Najib wanted to hold the election in June-July but it should be held later than that because they won't be able to use schools and halls. The best time for an election is later than June and July but it should be this year,” Perak DAP chairman Ngeh Koo Ham told Malaysia Chronicle.

His colleague, DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua is reluctant to hazard a guess on when BN would call for snap polls. But he believes the best time for Pakatan, especially DAP, is “immediately and May or June would be the best”.

Dirtiest dog-fight ever

Others weren’t so sure Najib would still push for speedy polls. They point to his cautious nature and the fact that he had already secured the approval of the Umno supreme council to delay internal party polls by 18 months.

This would bar any challenges for his post as Umno president and entitle him to continue as prime minister until 2013, which is the latest he can delay polls until.

“For BN, I think early next year would be the best time for them since they lost a lot of seats in the Sarawak election. Our economy is not doing so well and to add damage to the situation, the in-fighting between MCA, MIC and Umno is still unresolved,” PKR MP for Ampang Zuraida Kamaruddin told Malaysia Chronicle.

Some preferred to put the quality of the elections first rather than the timing. However, altruism might be a bit too idealistic given that 5 decades of political hegemony has sharpened the BN’s thirst to stay in power.

Most expect the “dirtiest dog-fight” to erupt at Malaysia’s next GE.

Already, instead of disclosing when polls will be held and giving ample warning to all including the opposition, Najb has insisted on keeping the timing under wraps. Even Singapore’s authoritarian regime, which will hold polls early next month, did the minimum of alerting the public and the fledgling opposition there.

“I think the general election should be held fairly and BN should give us adequate time to prepare. They should fix a date that is good for both sides of the divide. But as usual, the chances are high that BN will be unfair and take advantage whenever they can,” PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.

His sentiments were echoed by PAS MP for Kuala Selangor Dzulkefly Ahmad.

“For me, the best time for BN would be the worst for Pakatan, and the best for Pakatan would be the worst for BN. We just want a clean and fair election this time for Pakatan,” Dzulkefly told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Anytime is good as long as both party agree and the most important thing is the people. We do not want to face the same issues in Sarawak, of electoral fraud, illegal postal votes and so on. We want them to give us the right amount of time to prepare and campaign so that the people can choose which is the best party to lead this country.”