KUALA LUMPUR – The nomination of candidates for the 15th general election is scheduled for tomorrow nationwide for the 222 federal seats and 59 state seats in Perak, 42 in Pahang, and 15 in Perlis.
The nomination of candidates for the Bugaya by-election in Sabah will also be held at the same time.
The period for submission of the nomination papers is between 9am and 10am at 222 nomination centres located at, among other places, district offices, community halls, and school halls.
The Election Commission set November 19 for polling and November 15 for early voting.
The campaign period is set for 14 days, starting tomorrow after the announcement of candidates contesting in the polls until 11.59pm on November 18.
Before the dissolution of the 14th Parliament on October 10, the composition of seats in the Dewan Rakyat saw Pakatan Harapan (PH) hold 90 seats, followed by 43 by Barisan Nasional (BN), 26 by Bersatu (28), 19 by Gabungan Parti Sarawak, 17 by PAS, seven by Warisan, six by Parti Bangsa Malaysia, four by Pejuang, three independents, and one each by Muda, Parti Sarawak Bersatu, and STAR.
Two seats remain vacant following the death of the incumbents, Datuk Hasbullah Osman (Gerik-BN) and Datuk Liew Vui Keong (Batu Sapi-Warisan).
At the state level, only Perak, Pahang, and Perlis have dissolved their state assemblies to allow the state elections to be held simultaneously with GE15.
The PH-controlled states of Penang, Negri 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.
Other states held their state polls separately over the last two years, with Sabah having its elections on September 26, 2020; Melaka on November 20, 2021; Sarawak on December 18, 2021, and Johor on March 12.
The Bugaya seat fell vacant after the death of its assemblyman Manis Muka Mohd Darah on November 17, 2020, but the by-election was postponed following the proclamation of an emergency to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Effective October 6 this year, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah consented to lift 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 by-election.
The electoral rolls to be used for GE15, the state polls, and the Bugaya by-election will be the latest updates to the August 2022 Additional Electoral Roll as of October 9.
The GE15 electoral rolls contain 21,173,638 voters. 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.
In GE14, a total of 2,333 candidates filed their nomination papers to contest 222 parliamentary and 505 state seats. On nomination day, BN won the Rantau state seat in Negri Sembilan unopposed.
The nomination of candidates for GE15 tomorrow is eagerly awaited following the emergence of new political coalitions that are likely to cause at least three to four-cornered fights in most parliamentary seats. – Bernama, November 4, 2022
