Malaysian PM Dissolves Parliament -Wednesday April 3,2013

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday April 3,2013 dissolved the parliament, paving the way for an election.After months of playing a guessing game with voters, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced the dissolution of Parliament, paving the way for the 13th general election.He said this in a 15-minute ‘live’ telecast on all television stations at 11.30am, following an audience with the Agong early this morning.Najib Razak called on all state assemblies to be dissolved today as well, to enable state and parliamentary polls to be held simultaneously.

The election commission was to meet immediately to set the date for the ballot, which will elect the new members of federal parliament and states’ assemblies.Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the commission will call a meeting to decide the date for nominations and polling

Analysts said the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front), which has ruled since 1957, faces a serious challenge from the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance), which nearly toppled the government in the previous polls in 2008

There are 222 parliamentary seats up for grabs, with the ruling BN currently holds 135 seats, Pakatan Rakyat, 75, and the other 12 going to independents and three other parties. Whichever coalition that wins 112 seats will claim power.

Pakatan controls 4 states - Selangor, Penang, Kelantan and Kedah, while BN has 9 under its belt

This election will see a huge number of new voters - an increase of 3 million, or 25 percent, since 2008 GE




Note
The United Malays National Organisation ((UMNO) the long term dominant ruling party was founded in 1946 as a reaction against the granting of citizenship to Chinese and Indian immigrants upon independence.

UMNO, in a successful move to broaden its support base since 1974, managed to co-opt the Malaysian chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC),  the Malaysian people's Movement Party(GERAKAN) and a number of parties in Sabah and Sarawak into the National Front (Barisan Nasional / BN) coalition (now altogether 13 parties), which enjoyed a huge majority in Parliament until 2008.