Date:14/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/14/stories/2008021460411400.htm

International

Badawi calls mid-term elections

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday announced a snap general election, nearly 15 months before Parliament, now dissolved, could run its full course. The date of polling was left to the Election Commission.

Addressing the press at Putrajaya, the seat of government, Mr. Abdullah expressed the hope that the voters would “understand the issues in the country, evaluate them objectively and give their votes to Barisan Nasional (BN),” the long-governing multi-racial coalition in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

The BN held 199 seats in the now-dissolved 219-member House. The next Parliament will have three more seats. For the first time, Malaysia, with a 10.9-million electorate, would use transparent ballot boxes and apply indelible ink.

Political observers believe that the snap poll is a ploy to deny Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister, a chance to lead the opposition campaign as a candidate for Prime Minister’s post. Mr. Anwar, jailed for several years in a corrupt practices case, remains disqualified for elective office until April.

Mr. Abdullah’s “hope” of a fresh mandate acquires unusual political importance in the current context of unrest among the Malaysian Indian minority over its perceived “marginalisation.”