PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians will go to the polls on Nov 19 in the country’s 15th general election (GE15), the Election Commission (EC) announced today.
In making the announcement, EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh also said nomination had been set for Nov 5 and early voting Nov 15.
The general election will involve all the 222 parliamentary seats throughout the country, with three states holding their state polls simultaneously — Perak involving 59 state seats, Pahang (42) and Perlis (15).
The Bugaya state by-election in Sabah will also be held at the same time.
“The campaign period has been set for 14 days, beginning from after the Nov 5 announcement of candidates contesting in the polls until 11.59pm on Nov 18,” Abdul Ghani told a press conference after chairing a special EC meeting on the polls here today.
Abdul Ghani said the electoral rolls to be used for GE15, the state polls and the Bugaya by-election would be the latest August 2022 Additional Electoral Roll as updated on Oct 9, 2022.
“The GE15 electoral rolls contain 21,173,638 voters,” he said.
Of this number, 20,905,366 are ordinary voters, 146,737 are army personnel and their spouses, 118,794 are police personnel, including from the General Operations Force, and their spouses, and 2,741 are absentee voters abroad.
Abdul Ghani, in a statement issued in conjunction with the meeting, said the electoral rolls for GE15 would be on sale beginning Oct 31.
Beginning Oct 31, voters can also check their voting details, including polling centres and voting streams, on the website https://mysprsemak.spr.gov.my or call the EC hotline at 03-88927018 / 03-88880040 or via the MySPR Semak application.
Applications for all categories of postal voting abroad and in the country were opened on Oct 10, 2022 for GE15 and on Oct 13 for the Bugaya by-election.
Applications for category 1B postal voting (Malaysians who are overseas) and category 1C (agencies/organisations) can be made online.
The closing dates for postal voting applications are Nov 2 for category 1A (election workers, EC members/officers, police, military and media personnel); Oct 23 for category 1B; and Oct 26 for category 1C.
To facilitate the nomination process, Abdul Ghani advised prospective candidates in GE15 and the Bugaya by-election to fill up their forms early and check with the Office of the Returning Officer or State Election Office throughout the country ahead of nomination day to ensure everything is in order.
Prospective candidates were also encouraged to pay their deposits early to ensure a smoother and faster nomination process, he added.
Caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the dissolution of the 14th Parliament effective Oct 10 to pave the way for GE15, after obtaining the consent of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.
The Pakatan Harapan-controlled states of Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor as well as the PAS-led states of Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah have opted not to hold their state elections with the general election, saying the year-end monsoon floods may disrupt the polls.
Other states held their state polls separately over the last two years, with Sabah having its elections in September 2020, Melaka (November 2021), Sarawak (December 2021) and Johor (March 2022).
The Bugaya seat fell vacant after the death of its assemblyman Manis Muka Mohd Darah on Nov 17, 2020 but the by-election was postponed following the proclamation of an emergency to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effective Oct 6 this year, Al-Sultan Abdullah consented to lifting six ordinances and emergency proclamations which were declared in November and December 2020 to postpone the Batu Sapi and Gerik parliamentary by-elections and the Bugaya state by-election. – BERNAMA
