By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Oct 10: Only a few hours after the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament by Prime Minister Datuk Patinggi Ismail Sabri, messages predicting the dates for nomination and polling have already made rounds in social media.
It is uncertain whether these messages came about based on reliable sources or are just the outcomes of guessing games involving some smart Alec.
The first set of dates states that nomination day will fall on Oct 29 (Saturday), while polling day is Nov 12 (Saturday). This set of dates is circulated in English.
The second set, which shows different date combinations and more details, is written in Bahasa Malaysia.
It states that nomination day is set on Oct 22 (Saturday), and polling day is on Nov 5 (Saturday). This set of dates includes one more detail — early voting is set to fall on Nov 1 (Tuesday).
Another speculation is that nomination day is set on Oct 21 (Friday), and polling day is Nov 5.
All these dates are unverified, but they have already gone viral and widely circulated on the messaging application WhatsApp.
Despite the differences in dates, one similarity that can be deduced from these dates is that none of the dates has gone beyond mid-November.
Another similarity is that all the predicted dates do not go beyond Nov 15.
Perhaps this has been due to the King’s request to the Election Commission (EC) that the polls could be held at the latest date possible, taking into consideration that the North-east Monsoon usually starts mid-November.
“The King expressed hope that the Election Commission (EC) will conduct the 15th General Election (GE15) in the near future, taking into account the Northeast Monsoon, which is predicted to start in mid-November 2022,” said the King in a statement issued by the Istana Negara Comptroller Dato Seri Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin today.
Regardless of the authenticity of the above-predicted dates, it would be safe to say that the polling day will fall before mid-November.
Hasty may be for many, especially politicians and the Election Commission staff. However, it is a new experience, and it would be interesting to watch how voters decide, given that politicians have much less time to prepare and campaign. — DayakDaily
