2nd LD Writethru: Malaysian general elections set for May 9

KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian voters will go to the polls on May 9 in the country's general elections, said the Election Commission of Malaysia on Tuesday, days after Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of the parliament.

Mohd Hashim bin Abdullah, chairman of Election Commission, at the press conference also announced the nomination date, which falls on April 28. After nomination day, candidates will have 11 days for their campaign.

The polling date, a Wednesday, was decided at a previous special meeting chaired by Hashim. He noted that the date was to avoid a clash with major cultural and religious events. Ramadan, a major festive period for the Muslim-majority country, begins on May 15.

Hashim said military and police forces as well as voters outside Malaysia could begin early voting on May 5.

According to data from the Election Commission, a total of 14.9 million voters are eligible for voting. Candidates will contest 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats, including all states except the eastern Borneo state of Sarawak, which conducted its state election in 2017.

A simple majority of 112 parliamentary seats will deliver a victory to Najib, who is leading the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition against the challenge of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In the last general election held in 2013, BN managed to win 133 out of the 222 seats, though it obtained less than half of the popular votes.

Both BN and the opposition alliance led by Mahathir, called Pakatan Harapan, have released their campaign manifestos, in which generous benefits were promised to the voters. Enditem