The government is expected to call a snap election within 30 days after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi cancelled a trip to the G15 summit in Venezuela to focus on a nationwide tour, analysts and politicians said today.

Abdullah, who took over from veteran premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad last October, has maintained a hectic schedule of visits to various states around the country in recent weeks, while remaining tight-lipped over when he will call a vote.

"I think elections will be held end of March," National University of Malaysia analyst Shamsul Amir Baharuddin told AFP . "The fact Abdullah put off his Caracas trip reflects the elections are near."

Elections are not due until the year's end, but analysts say Abdullah wants to capitalise on a "feel-good" factor from the smooth transition of power and his pledges to fight corruption and government inefficiency.

He also needs to seek his own mandate from voters after simply being installed as prime minister by his party Umno, the central party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Nuclear link

Abdullah, who was due to attend the G15 meeting of developing nations this week, has made whirlwind trips to key states to present a thinly-disguised election message, including the opposition-held north-eastern states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

Opposition politicians agreed an election would be called, with spokesmen for the Chinese-dominated DAP and the hardline Islamic PAS saying they had already begun campaigning.

Under Malaysia's election rules, a vote must be held within 60 days of parliament being dissolved. Analysts predict parliament will be dissolved on March 7, a day before its next sitting.

The Election Commission would then probably set the nomination date within 10 days and the polling date 10 days later.

PAS presents the main challenge to Abdullah, having won two out of 13 states and tripled its parliamentary seats in 1999 polls.

The party will campaign on government corruption, "social degradation", the economy and the plight of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, PAS central committee member Hatta Ramli told AFP .

It would also focus on allegations that a company owned by the prime minister's son Kamaluddin ( right ) was involved in the nuclear black market run by disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

"We will bring up the issue of Abdullah's son and the nuclear link. It is an important issue involving national security," Hatta said.

BN victory assured

A police probe cleared the company, Scomi Precision Engineering (Scope), of knowingly-producing centrifuge parts for Libya's nuclear weapons programme, but the opposition claims it was a whitewash .

Analysts have warned that any significant loss of support to PAS, which competes for the votes of the Malay Muslim majority, could lead to a challenge to Abdullah for the leadership of Umno.

However PAS stands no chance of forming a government even if it wins more votes from the Malays because minority Chinese and Indians hold the balance of power and are unlikely to support the party's Islamic extremism.

Malays make up some 60 percent of Malaysia's 25 million people, followed by the Chinese, who account for about 26 percent, and Indians at around eight percent.

Asked to predict the outcome of the polls, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang told AFP : "There is no doubt the Barisan Nasional will win and secure its two-thirds majority." - AFP