EC waiting for state assemblies to dissolve

PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission (EC) called a special news conference yesterday to announce that it has not set the nomination and polling dates for the 14th general election yet.

EC chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said the commission will only decide on the dates so it can hold federal and state elections simultaneously after receiving the notices of dissolution for all the state legislatures nationwide, except for Sarawak. He said to date, the EC has received dissolution notices from Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Johor and Melaka.

He confirmed receiving the notice of Parliament’s dissolution effective today from Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.

In the last general election, the EC set its meeting one week after Parliament was dissolved.

“After we receive notices of dissolution from all the states, we will then hold a special meeting to decide the dates.

“The date of the meeting is not clear yet as we need to receive notices from all the states,” he added.

Hashim said to date, 14.94 million voters would be eligible to participate in the elections.

The EC would have a manpower of 259,391 people to conduct the elections for 222 parliamentary seats nationwide and also all the state seats.