Malaysian opposition party expects snap election soon<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir
\nMohamad is expected to call for a snap national election soon to
\nsecure another five-year term, opposition members said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, president of the Melayu Semangat 46
\n(Spirit of '46 Malays) party, said he expected polls soon based
\non the \"latest developments and reactions of the prime minister.\"<\/p>\n
\"We have our election machinery ready as we feel the polls are
\nlikely to be held in November,\" the state news agency, Bernama,
\nquoted him as saying in his east coast Kelantan state stronghold.<\/p>\n
Opposition Member of Parliament Wee Choo Keong also picked
\nNovember as a likely month for the election, which must be held
\nbefore the end of 1995, when the Mahathir government's term
\nexpires.<\/p>\n
\"We expect lightning polls, as usual,\" Wee told Reuters in
\nKuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
In the 1990 elections, Mahathir's National Front coalition
\nswept 127 of the 180 parliament seats and won 10 of the 11 state
\nlegislatures at stake.<\/p>\n
Mahathir himself revived talk of snap polls, which had
\nsubsided until he said early this week that elections were
\nimminent and his party needed to be operationally prepared.<\/p>\n
The prime minister, however, remained coy about the timing.<\/p>\n
\"It will be soon but soon is relative. If it is within the
\ncontext of 1,000 days, then it will be very soon but if it is a
\nshorter period, then it is a long way off,\" he said in the north
\nBorneo state of Sarawak.<\/p>\n
Wee said a November election could use the new electoral rolls
\nprepared from a recent voter registration exercise that garnered
\n900,000 new voters.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the new voters are from the ruling coalition,\" he
\nsaid. Nine million of Malaysia's 19 million people will vote in
\nthe coming polls.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang was more cautious, saying the
\npolls date is \"anybody's guess\" although his Democratic Action
\nParty (DAP) is \"ready for a general election now.\"<\/p>\n
The DAP, which is trying to capture the northern Penang's
\nstate legislature, has already scheduled 10,000-seat dinners
\nbetween Oct. 3 and 7 on the island state.<\/p>\n
Lim predicted a hard fight for the opposition in the coming
\npolls as Mahathir's coalition would use Malaysia's six years of
\neight percent annual economic growth to sway voters.<\/p>\n
\"There is no scarcity of issues but the public's perception of
\nissues is what matters,\" he told Reuters in a telephone
\ninterview.<\/p>\n
Wee, also in the DAP, said the opposition could fare better if
\nMahathir allowed public rallies during the polls campaign period.<\/p>\n
Public rallies were banned after the 1969 elections following
\nriots that killed hundreds of people.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/malaysian-opposition-party-expects-snap-election-soon-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}