Wednesday, 6 August 2008

Can anyone explain?

When Parliament was dissolved on 13 Feb, the Election Committee set 24 Feb as the Nomination Day and 8 Mar as the Polling Day. That meant political parties had 11 days to finalise their list of candidates and there were 13 days of campaigning.

When Wan Azizah resigned from her Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat on 31 July, the Election Committee set 16 Aug as the Nomination Day and 26 Aug as the By-election Date. This will mean the political parties have 16 days to finalise their candidates and there'll be 10 days of campaigning.

I'm confused. Why is it that a nation-wide election with hundreds of candidates can be completed in 24 days whereas a single by-election with possibly only two candidates need 27 days in all? Shouldn't a by-election be much simpler with less resources required?

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