Speculation rife Parliament will be dissolved before Budget

Speculation is rife that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament before Budget 2023 is tabled this Friday (Oct 7).

This comes after the Umno supreme council set a deadline for polls to be held this year.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said he received a message today that read "Latest source: 6th October Parliament dissolved; 5th November GE.”

Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, meanwhile, posted on Facebook that Ismail Sabri will dissolve Parliament on Friday.

PKR and DAP lawmakers as well as leaders Malaysiakini contacted also said they have heard whispers that Parliament will be dissolved before the budget is tabled on Friday evening.

However, they said they could not verify this information.

Amid the speculations, a Finance Ministry spokesperson confirmed to the media this afternoon that the budget will be presented on Friday as scheduled.

Last Friday, Umno said Ismail Sabri will be meeting the Agong soon to propose a date to dissolve the legislature and pave the way for the 15th general election.

Agong back in the country

A rumoured audience yesterday between the Agong and the prime minister turned out to be false as the king was in Singapore.

However, His Majesty is believed to be back in the country and is slated to attend an event in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

Ismail Sabri, meanwhile, will be meeting Umno division chiefs at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

If Parliament is dissolved before Friday evening, it would likely be the first time in the country's history that the legislature is dissolved just before the budget is tabled.

In 1999, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad dissolved Parliament the month after the budget was tabled.

There have been major concerns that a general election held this year would risk coinciding with the monsoon floods - which experts predict would be worse than the floods of last year.

However, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi - the chief proponent of early polls - said that an interim government can handle disaster management should the general election be held.

Constitutionally, the Agong can reject the dissolution of Parliament.

However, experts differ on whether this applies when the prime minister has not lost the Dewan Rakyat's confidence.

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