No need for longer campaign period, says Mah

SEREMBAN: Gerakan has dismissed Pakatan Harapan’s suggestion that the campaigning period for the coming general election should last for three weeks or more.

“Personally, I think that it should not exceed two weeks,” said party president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong following a visit to the state Gerakan office here yesterday.

Last week, DAP and PKR said that the Election Commission should fix a longer campaign period of 21 days for the coming general election.

The proposal was made in the Dewan Rakyat by PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who said the parties needed more time due to the increase in the number of voters.

Mah said when Pakatan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister, the campaign period was nine days in 1999 and eight in 2004.

“And when Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak became Prime Minister and led Barisan to the polls in 2013, we had 15 days to campaign,” he said.

Mah also criticised Pakatan’s manifesto to limit the tenure of prime minister, mentri besar and chief minister to two terms.

“But why is it that the provision will not apply to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who has already served two terms as Chief Minister, if they manage to win the state again?” he asked.

Mah said the people should make a correct assessment of the Opposition because they did not practise what they preached.

On a separate matter, Mah said that Gerakan would not field the same candidate in both state and parliamentary seats because the party had enough leaders with calibre.

On Monday, The Star frontpaged a report that an unprecedented number of Barisan Nasional leaders may be contesting both state and parliamentary seats.

Talk is rife that Barisan may do so as a strategy to win more seats.