Sarawak polls on April 16?

By Sajahan Waheed, Nancy Nias and Ahmad Fairuz Othman, NST

KUCHING: Attention has shifted to the likely dates for polling and nomination in the 10th Sarawak election following yesterday’s dissolution of the state assembly.

A favourite date among pundits and politicians is April 16, a Saturday, preceded by the nomination process speculated for either April 6 or 9.

Election Commission chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof will chair a special meeting here tomorrow to discuss matters pertaining to the state election, including the nomination and polling dates.

Of particular interest would be the duration of the campaign period.

The April 6 and 16 combination gives a 10-day campaign period while the April 9 nomination would reduce this to seven days.

The Election Commission had in the 2006 state polls decided on a 11-day campaign period.

Speaker Datuk Seri Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar said his office received yesterday the proclamation of the state assembly dissolution signed by Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng.

The notice of dissolution will be handed over to the Election Commission today.

“It will be up to the commission to fix the nomination and polling dates,” Asfia said during a press conference, near here.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had last Thursday informed the Yang Dipertua Negeri of the dissolution plan.

In the just dissolved assembly, Barisan Nasional held 63 of the 71 seats, DAP six, while Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Parti Cinta Malaysia had one each.

The state election would be held four months ahead of its expiry on July 23.

The last state election was held on May 20, 2006.

State Election Commission director Datuk Takun Suggah had said that based on the last electoral roll as of Dec 31 last year, there were 985,464 voters.

“Those who had registered as voters between January and now would not qualify as their names were not included in the latest electoral roll.”