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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians will vote in general elections on March 8,
authorities said Thursday as the nation braces for a campaign
dominated by ethnic tensions and anger over rising prices.
“The Election Commision [EC] has fixed the
nomination date for February 24 and polling will be on March 8,”
EC Chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said, a day after Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dissolved parliament.
Abdul Rashid defended the short campaign period,
which is in line with previous elections in Malaysia and which has
been ruled by the Barisan Nasional multi-ethnic coalition since
independence half a century ago.
“They can campaign from nomination date. It is
more than sufficient time to campaign,” he said, also denying
charges that the ballot would be sullied by vote buying and
manipulation that includes phantom voters and postal vote fraud.
“Can anyone prove to us there is rigging? We
are for fair elections,” he said. “There are no phantom
voters.”
Malaysia’s opposition parties have attacked
the timing of the polls, which are being held in advance of a May
2009 deadline, as well as the decision to dissolve parliament during
Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations.
Dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim,
who was sacked and jailed in 1998, said the government was
attempting to sideline him by holding the ballot just a month before
he is eligible to run for office.
Anwar said Abdullah was rushing to the polls
after his approval ratings dropped to an all-time low.
“Malaysians are hard hit by rising prices,
rampant crime, endemic corruption and heightened ethnic tensions.
The longer that Barisan Nasional waits, the more seats it stands to
lose in the general election,” he said in a statement.
“Denying me the opportunity to contest
demonstrates that the four-year track record of the Abdullah
administration has been so banal, disappointing and characterized by
failure that it can ill-afford to take any chances by allowing for a
truly democratic electoral process.”
The coalition grabbed 90 percent of
parliamentary seats in a 2004 victory that came a year after
Abdullah took over from premier Mahathir Mohamad who had ruled for
more than two decades.
Since then, the premier has been criticized as
weak and unable to carry out key elections promises like ridding the
country of corruption which plagues business and politics.
However, there is little doubt the coalition
will score another victory, and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak
said it was confident of achieving a majority of more than
two-thirds.
-- AFP
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