14-day campaign period to come to an end

The 14-day campaigning period for the 15th general election (GE15) which began on Nov 5 will end at 11.59pm tonight.

This means that after midnight, all activities to appeal for votes will be disallowed in 222 parliamentary seats, and state seats in Perak (59), Pahang (42) and Perlis (15) as well as the Bugaya state seat in Sabah.

However, the status of the Padang Serai parliamentary seat has yet to be decided, whether voting will continue following the death of the Pakatan Harapan contesting incumbent, M Karupaiya. The Election Commission (EC) will hold a meeting today to determine the matter.

Karupaiya was set to defend the seat in a six-cornered clash against Hamzah Abd Rahman (Pejuang-Putra), C Sivaraajh (Barisan Nasional-MIC), Mohd Bakhri Hashim (Warisan), Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional-Bersatu) and independent candidate Sreanandha Rao.

According to the EC's previous statement, the commission will enforce Subsection 26 (1) of the Election Offences Act 1954, which prohibits holding, calling or arranging any form of meeting, gathering, show, entertainment or giving public speeches.
 
The law, among others, also prohibits the supply of loudspeakers for political purposes as well as the opening of offices or booths in polling stations on polling day.

This election made history with a record total of 945 candidates from various parties confirmed as eligible to contest for 222 parliamentary seats nationwide.

It has also witnessed an increase in the number of voters, with 21.1 million eligible to cast their ballots, compared to 14.9 million in the previous 2018 election.