GE15: Conducive period for voters abroad
SHAH ALAM - The date set for the 15th General Election (GE15) on Nov 19 brings a more conducive room for voters abroad to plan their trip back home to their own areas.
Election Analyst Dr G Manimaran said the Election Commission's (EC) decision to choose Saturday in the second week of November took into account a few sensitive dates such as Deepavali.
"As I expected, Nov 19 was the option available to the EC before the arrival of the monsoon season predicted.
"With about a month left, it could enable voters who are abroad especially Sabah and Sarawak to have more time to plan themselves with ticket purchases and such.
"This duration that is quite long indirectly gave benefits to the parties contesting to better plan their campaigns," he told Sinar Harian on Thursday.
He commented on the GE15 announcement date as well as all parties in their preparation to face the election described as most challenging.
On the duration of the campaign which was set to 14 days, Dr Manimaran said it was rational, which took into account the worries of floods following the prediction of Malaysia entering the Northeast Monsoon starting from the middle of November.
He explained the campaign duration was longer compared to GE14 which was only 11 days which provided benefits for parties contesting.
"The EC's action this time is much more rational and had its 'discretion' that is better when deciding such an important date to ensure a high voter turnout.
"I urge for all voters to come out and carry out our rights when the time comes because it is our day and this (election cost) represented our money, so don't waste this opportunity to choose the best leaders," he said.
When asked about the worries about major floods in GE15, Dr Manimaran said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah could make an emergency declaration to delay the votes.
"The EC has set the dates (for GE15), if there is a disaster, the emergency declaration could be done to delay the election as what happened in the two Parliaments, Gerik and Batu Sapi as well as the Bugaya State Assembly previously," he said.
