Kota Kinabalu: Thirty nine days from the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly to nomination day is unprecedented in Sabah’s political history ever since the maximum period from dissolution to polling was reduced from 90 to 60 days in the 1980s.
The period from dissolution to polling is 53 days, stretching almost to the maximum 60 days allowed in the Sabah constitution.
SAPP President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee believed it is due to top brass of Malaya parties, mainly PKR, needing more time to sort out their internal problems and rebellions at divisions over candidacy disputes.
“It is also possible that federal leaders, including the Prime Minister, want to have more time to prepare for the Sabah elections until after the Asean summit in KL due on Oct. 26 and 27,” he said in a statement.
With the Sabah government now being merely a caretaker government and the private sector putting itself “on hold” until the elections are over, he said, the two-month wait would dampen economic activities.
“This has a negative effect on Sabah’s economy. In other words, it seems Sabah’s interests have again been compromised,” he said.
