Report: Umno looking at March for GE14

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The 14th general election (GE14) could be held as early as March next year, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report quoted two Umno division leaders, who decline to be named, confirming that the date had been bandied about.

"March has been talked about... and why not? The opposition is not together. We are ready as we can be for elections," an Umno division leader from a southern state was quoted as saying.

They said the Umno leadership has in recent weeks urged party grassroots to engage potential voters, particularly young voters.

However, both Umno leaders said that a final decision had yet to be made.

The report also quoted Gerakan vice-president Dominic Lau as saying that his party was instructed to "get ready".

"We have been instructed by BN to get ready, to get the party machinery in order and prepare for the general election," he said.

However, Lau said the final date on when the general election will be is still in the hands of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib is now in his strongest position yet since he was first plagued by controversy after multi-billion deposits in his personal bank accounts came to light in July last year.

Since then, he had removed his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and another minister Mohd Shafie Apdal, who were critical of him, from the government.

His critics have also been sacked from Umno.

Even though the US Department of Justice claimed that more than US$3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB and at least US$731 million went into the account of "Malaysian Official One", which a minister admitted was Najib, the prime minister is in a relatively strong position.

Party grassroots remain loyal to Najib while his party critics have now been forced to turn to the opposition.Najib had denied wrongdoing and said he had never taken public funds for personal gain.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin have set up an Umno splinter party in the form of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) after finding it impossible to dislodge Najib from within Umno.

The opposition remained fractured and unable to pose a serious challenge to BN under Najib.

However, efforts are being made to unite the opposition but time appears to be running out.- Mkini