According to Malaysian laws for national elections, a general election must be held no later than five years subsequent to the previous elections. The 12th Malaysian general election was held on March 8, 2008 and many believe that a snap election is imminent .
As with all preceding general elections following independence, the 12th parliamentary election was won by BN, but yielded one of the worst results in the coalition's history. Opposition parties had what has been commonly referred to as a tsunami victory, winning 82 seats (out of 222 seats in parliament) or 36.9% of parliamentary seats, while BN only managing to secure the remaining 140 seats or 63.1%. It marked also the first time since the 1969 election that the coalition did not win a two-thirds supermajority in the Malaysian Parliament required to pass amendments to the Malaysian Constitution. In addition, 5 of 13 state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the last election.
Currently, both the BN and the Opposition have started preparing for the next election and concerned citizens wonder who will win the 13th General Elections.
According to Sembang-Sembang Forum:
PM Najib’s approval rating has eased slightly between June and September this year, according to a survey conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research. 65% of the people polled were satisfied with his performance as Prime Minister in June compared to 56% in September. However the number of people dissatisfied with his performance remained roughly the same with 23% in September against 22% in June.
The survey also found that 47% of the people polled think that the Pakatan Rakyat is not a viable alternative to the BN at the Federal level. However, 46% were satisfied with the 4 Pakatan Rakyat led State Governments.
With Najib seemingly on a roll with his public relations exercise and numerous feel-good statements lately, the Pakatan Rakyat loose coalition at its lowest ebb with its myriad of internal troubles, will the BN or Pakatan Rakyat win if Najib was to call for a snap elections tomorrow? Will there be another political tsunami at the Federal level? Or will the 2-Party system be just a fading dream?
If you want to know more about this topic, please come and listen to Ibrahim Suffian's talk this Sunday from 2p.m. to 5.00p.m. at Kompleks Pusat Penyayang, Jalan Utama, Penang.
Ibrahim Suffian is the Head of Programs and a Director of the Merdeka Centre of Opinion Research. He started the Centre in 2001 with another friend as “to help democracy mature, make the Government more accountable to the people and allow the people to have a say in what goes on in the country”.
Suffian is a widely sought after speaker on opinion research results and analysis. He has spoken at several Malaysian Bar Council events and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung seminar. He publishes many papers and reports in regional events.
His presentation is based on result findings from numerous surveys and popularity polls conducted by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research which is an independent, non-partisan organization focused on public opinion research and socio-economic analysis.
This forum is organized by Sembang-sembang Forum which is a NGO run by Penangites for Penangites to discuss current issues that affect us. For more information, please CLICK THIS LINK. Please try to attend this talk. Thanks! Have a nice day.
romerz And then after the sembang-sembang talk ends at around 4pm, make sure you head to the "Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia" road show in Penang at Hu Yew Seah at Madras Lane. This event will not end until 8pm pm. The most interesting part of this event is in the late evening and stage where there is open interaction between the floor and the organizers.
http://romerz.blogspot.com/2009/11/reminder-sabm-roadshow-in-penang.html