Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong said he expects the 14th general election to be held in nine months' time, according to a Sin Chew Daily report.

This would put the general election sometime in the middle of next year.

The general election was previously speculated to take place in March as the time frame had been bandied around in meetings among Umno division leaders, Bloomberg reported.

In an interview, Mah said Gerakan has almost finalised candidates for the 45 state seats that it will be contesting with the exception of some seats in Penang.

Mah said while the 2008 general election had been described as a political tsunami by the opposition, he expects a different kind of political tsunami in the upcoming general election.

"I have seen a political awakening among the people, particularly in the Chinese community where they are beginning to question and criticise the federal opposition.

"This was unlike in 2008 where the criticism was only against BN," he was quoted as saying.

Mah believed that BN could potentially recapture a two-thirds majority if the opposition engaged in multi-cornered fights.

He noted that PAS had strong machinery and Pakatan Harapan would be greatly weakened without the Islamic party's cooperation.

Mah also responded to rumours that Umno and PAS may cooperate, stating that Gerakan was prepared to accept such cooperation on condition that PAS abandoned its ambition to implement hudud.

"But it's impossible because PAS will not give up its ambition for an Islamic state," he said.