Nomination day on Feb 24, polls on March 8

Parliament was dissolved yesterday Feb13, 2008, ending weeks of speculation. Polling is on March 8 and nomination on Feb 24, providing 13 days for political parties to campaign, an additional five days compared to only eight days in the 2004 general election.

The assemblies of all states except for Sarawak were also dissolved Wednesday after the Menteri Besar and chief ministers sought consent from their respective rulers.

Candidates will vie for 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats.

The 13-day campaign period for the general election is adequate for all the political parties contesting in the polls, Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said today.

He said the commission took into account internal security and public order when deciding on the campaign period.

He said there are 30 registered political parties in the country.
A total of 10,922,139 electorate, including 221,085 postal voters, are eligible to exercise their electoral rights to elect their representatives for the 222 parliamentary and 505 state seats except for the 71 state seats in Sarawak.
The Sarawak state election was held on May 20, 2006. The state assembly’s five-year mandate will only lapse in 2011.
Abdul Rashid said about 600,000 additional voters are eligible to vote in this election from the 10.3 million in the last election.
He said the commission had been officially informed by Istana Negara that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, gave royal assent to the dissolution of Parliament yesterday.