EC Announces Malaysia Election Date

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian voters will go to the polls on May 9 for the country's 14th general elections, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday. EC chairman Mohd Hashim bin Abdullah, in a broadcasted announcement, said that nominations for the 222 parliamentary and 587 state seats have been set for April 28, reports The Star Malaysiaz.

Early voting for military and police personnel as well as voters living abroad will take place on May 5. Hashim said that a total of 14,940,627 Malaysians will be eligible to vote icompared to 13,268,002 registered voters in the 2013 elections. The 14th general elections will see a total of 259,391 election workers on duty, with 8,898 polling centres and 28,995 polling streams.

The 13th Malaysian Parliament was dissolved on April 7. The dissolution was announced by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak after receiving consent from the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) Sultan Muhammad V. Najib is seeking another term after holding the post for nine years, reports Xinhua news agency.

For the past six decades after Malaysia's independence, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has won every election together with the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has the Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress as its two major component parties. In 2013, BN managed to win 133 out of the 222 seats, though it obtained less than half of the popular votes.

IANS