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Anina cites religious grounds for Wednesday polling day
Published:  Apr 10, 2018 9:47 PM
Updated: 1:53 PM

GE14 | Former Bersatu leader Anina Saadudin, who is now aligned to BN, believes there are religious grounds for the general election to be held on May 9, a Wednesday.

Anina said this is considering that the holy month of Ramadhan will begin on May 15, and time was needed to make preparations.

"According to convention, Muslims would make their Ramadhan preparations, such as stocking up on food, cleaning their homes and mosques, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which is May 11 to May 13.

"Therefore, that weekend would not be suitable to be the polling day," she said in a statement today.

The Election Commission was today criticised for holding polling day in the middle of the week, which could potentially suppress voter turnout.

The last three general elections have all been held on a Saturday or Sunday.

Anina, who now leads the NGO Empirical Malaysia, said she believed that the holy month of Ramadhan and cleaning up work after the general election have all been factored in the setting of the polling date.

Caretaker deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today that there is no need to declare May 9 a public holiday, as existing laws already compel employers to give workers time to vote.

He also slammed Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad for criticising the weekday polling day, pointing out that he had done the same when he was prime minister.

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