11-day campaigning period.
Crunching the numbers:
- Parliamentary seats – 222
- State seats (excluding 82 in Sarawak) – 505
- Parliamentary seats need to be won for a simple majority – 112
- For a two-third majority – 148
- Registered voters eligible for polling – 14,968,304
- Election workers on duty – 259,391
- Polling centres – 8,898
Malaysians will go to the polls on May 9, which falls on a Wednesday, the Election Commission (EC) announced.
In an announcement broadcast on TV1, EC chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah declared that nominations for the 222 parliamentary and 587 state seats have been set for April 28.
Early voting for military and police personnel as well as voters living overseas has been set for May 5.
This gives political parties 11 days to campaign – four days more than the 13th General Election.
Hashim said that a total of 14,940,627 Malaysians are eligible to vote in GE14 compared to 13,268,002 registered voters in GE13.
For GE14, a total of 259,391 election workers will be on duty, with 8,898 polling centres and 28,995 polling streams.
Hashim said the EC had taken several factors into consideration when deciding on the dates, ensuring that none clash with any significant cultural or religious event.
GE14, however, will not see state elections in Sarawak which has 82 state constituencies. Sarawak held its state elections on May 7, 2016.
Having the polls on a working day is not unprecedented. The 1982 polls were held on a Thursday. This was when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad led Barisan Nasional.