KUCHING, Sept 7: Will the 15th General Election (GE15) will be held around the first quarter of 2023?
Political pundit Dato Peter Minos suggested that pressure exerted on Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been easing, adding weight to speculations that GE15 would be held at a later date instead of November this year.
He opined that the conviction and imprisonment of former Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Razak on fund misappropriation charges had appeared to reduce considerably pressure on Ismail Sabri to announce GE15.
“Maybe the court cluster group in Umno (United Malays National Organisation) is feeling crippled by the jailing of its star campaigner and strategist.
“Alone and with no strong backers, Dato Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is taking it a bit slower in pressuring the prime minister for GE15.
“Besides, he has right now big problems in the court and if luck runs out, he may or will get treatment similar to Najib. (Situation) looks pretty bleak for him, as I understand it,” said Minos in a press statement today.
The second reason he put forth was that, the rainy season is getting more erratic and it will only get worse by the day and by November, it will definitely be even harder to handle.
Constant rain which is most likely to lead to flooding will be a decisive factor on whether polls will be called in November, he added.
Most people predicted an early GE due to Ismail Sabri’s decision to carry forward the tabling of Budget 2023 to Oct 7, but Minos thinks otherwise.
He opined that Ismail Sabri made the decision because time is needed for the positive effects of the budget to be seen.
“At least six months from October this year will do. So GE15 in March or April 2023 may be just okay for the national polls.
“People do ask, why the big rush and why not wait for early next year? It is only a matter of six months,” said Minos, stressing that the view that GE15 will be deferred to next year was only his personal opinion based on his observation. — DayakDaily
