Adenan: State assembly will be dissolved very soon

Altogether now: Adenan (centre) raising his hands in unison with supporters at a ‘meet the people’ gathering in Kampung Rasau. — Bernama

KUCHING: Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said the dissolution of the state assembly will be “very soon” but declined to give more hints.

“Very soon, very soon, very soon” Adenan told reporters yesterday at Lundu, about 100km from here, when asked repeatedly about the election date.

Asked if the dissolution could be within this week he said: “I don’t know. I don’t know. Very soon lah. No point to speculate. Very soon. Definitely before June 20.”

June 20 is the date when the state assembly would be automatically dissolved.

Under the state Constitution, the election must be held within 60 days of dissolution.

The Chief Minister, however, said he would finalise Barisan Nasional’s candidate list by end of the month.

“I’ve started to give out names in public. By the end of the month, I will finalise everything.

“After that, I will advise, request the Governor to dissolve the assembly. After that, of course, the Election Commission (EC) will take charge.”

Adenan had earlier met PBB election workers of his semi-rural constituency of Tanjung Datu in a closed-door seminar.

The Chief Minister recently told a PBB gathering in Satok that he had proposed April 18 as nomination day, with polling on April 30 to the EC.

That resulted in criticism from the opposition and civil rights groups, who said it was not Adenan’s decision to fix the dates.

After yesterday’s meeting Adenan said Barisan’s election manifesto was also almost done and would be released in about a week’s time.

He downplayed further questions on the polls, except to say that he was confident of getting at least “a simple majority”.

On urban sentiments, he said there had been a shift back to the Barisan, but added he was unsure if the coalition could tilt the balance in the opposition strongholds.