Parties gear up for campaign flag-off

Close to 1,000 nominations expected to be submitted for the 222 parliamentary seats

- Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR The two-week campaign for Malaysia's 15th General Election officially kicks off on Saturday in a multi-cornered battle that is likely to result in no clear winner after the Nov 19 vote.

Most contenders have had to rush to prepare for the polls that were not due until September 2023 but were controversially called when caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Oct 10, despite warnings of deadly year-end floods by mid-November.

The Meteorological Department said on Thursday that the northeast monsoon which killed 54 in 2021 and caused RM6 billion (S$1.8 billion) in losses - is now expected to hit the country earlier, from Nov 7, and will last till March. This raises the potential risk of the 21 million-strong electorate having to brave flood waters to vote.

The fragmented political landscape, with three main coalitions and dozens of independent blocs vying for power, is likely to see close to a thousand nominations submitted on Saturday for the 222 parliamentary seats, and hundreds more for the only three - out of 13 state assemblies that have chosen -to hold concurrent polls despite the impending deluge. The states of Perlis, Perak and Pahang were ruled by Umno.

All candidates will have to submit their papers between 9am and 10am at various centres in all 222 federal wards, with confirmation of names that will appear on the ballot papers expected before noon.