DAP expects the general election to be held in the first quarter of 2004 as this will ensure that the ruling Barisan Nasional comes out with a new 'image card', said its secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock today.

According to a Bernama report, he said the elections will be held "either in March or April next year".

"This is to ensure that they (BN) can seize the opportunity to come out with a new 'image card'," he said.

He added that when Dr Mahathir Mohamad became the country's fourth prime minister, BN came up with the 'Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy' slogan to garner support.

"It had successfully raised hopes and expectation among the people and helped BN to score its big victory in the 1982 general election," he said.

Likewise, Kerk said, when Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi takes over as this October, he believed another 'image card' building will follow.

He said BN would exploit the hope of the promise of a new leadership for an efficient and trustworthy government by using some new slogans and concepts.

"This therefore means that in all probability, the next general election will be held in March next year as Abdullah will definitely need at least three months to build up his new image and bring about new hopes of his new premiership before he goes to the polls to seek the people's mandate," he said.

Eight seats

In a related development, DAP said it was eyeing eight out of the 11 parliamentary seats in the Federal Territory in the upcoming elections.

Its Federal Territory chairperson Dr Tan Seng Giaw said besides striving to retain the Seputeh, Cheras, Bukit Bintang and Kepong seats, the party was planning to contest in Segambut, Bandar Tun Razak, Batu and the new parliamentary seat, Setiawangsa.

In the 1999 general election, DAP contested five out of the 10 parliamentary seats in Kuala Lumpur, namely Bukit Bintang, Kepong, Cheras, Seputeh and Segambut, where it suffered the only lost.

DAP did not contest in its two other traditional seats, Bandar Tun Razak and Batu, to pave the way for its former allies in the Barisan Alternatif.

Asked on the plan, Kerk said the DAP headquarters had not finalised the seat arrangement and the FT DAP plan was still subject to discussion.

"The reason is because every time we announce the plan, it is subject to the negotiation with other opposition parties before we finalise the details," he said.