Malaysia dissolves parliament in preparation for elections

Elections will pit a coalition that has ruled for nearly 57 years against a resurgent opposition whose pledge to form a cleaner government has resonated with millions of citizens.

Powered by automated translation

KUALA LUMPUR // Malaysia's prime minister dissolved Parliament yesterday to call for general elections that will pit a coalition that has ruled for nearly 57 years against a resurgent opposition whose pledge to form a cleaner government has resonated with millions of citizens.

The polls are widely expected within a month after the prime minister, Najib Razak, said in a televised address that he had obtained royal consent from Malaysia's constitutional monarch to dissolve Parliament immediately.

Mr Najib used his speech to urge more than 13 million eligible voters to give his National Front coalition a strong mandate and to reject opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance.

The Election Commission is expected to meet within a week to set a polling date and determine when formal campaigning can begin. The National Front's current five-year mandate had been scheduled to end April 30.

At stake are 222 seats in Parliament and control of 12 of Malaysia's 13 states. The National Front won 2008 elections with less than a two-thirds parliamentary majority, its poorest results in more than five decades of uninterrupted rule since independence from Britain in 1957.

Mr Anwar said the opposition People's Alliance was "cautiously optimistic" that it could win federal power.