KUALA LUMPUR: The guessing game for the 15th General Election (GE15) has begun with the announcement on the dissolution of Parliament by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Most believe elections would be held on a weekend. As per the trend in the last seven general elections, four polls had been held on weekends, namely GE8, GE11, GE12 and GE13.
Polling day for GE8 was on Oct 21, 1990, GE11 on March 21, 2004, GE12 on March 8, 2008, and GE13 on May 5, 2013.
The last general election was held on May 9, 2018, which was a Wednesday.
Speculation is rife that, with the monsoon set to occur in the middle of next month, the Election Commission might set polling day on an early date. However, with Deepavali on Oct 24 falling on a Monday, it is highly unlikely that the EC would choose that particular weekend.
Therefore, the prevailing consensus among politicians and voters alike was that Malaysians would go to the polls in the first or second week of November.
PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli, in fact, tweeted on Monday that GE15 would take place early next month.
Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil refused to give specific dates, but said preparations would occur any time until the end of next month.
December elections, he said, would not be likely even though it was within the 60-day grace period from which an election must be held from the date of Parliament's dissolution.
This, said Isham, was because there would be a low turnout due to the monsoon peaking.
DAP's Lim Lip Eng was also not expecting GE15 to be held beyond the second week of next month.
The party's central executive committee member hoped voters would not be put through any hassle, such as floods, to exercise their right to vote.
Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu supreme council member Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that by hook or by crook, GE15 should be held before the middle of next month.
After that, he said, people in flood-prone areas would have to wade their way to polling centres with boots and sticks.