THE next general election should not be held any time soon as it could complicate the country’s recovery from Covid-19 as it moves into the endemic phase, starting April 1, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“It is more appropriate for us to wait until the public health situation is stable.

“It is better to postpone things that can complicate the transition (to the endemic phase). A general election is one of those things.”

Yesterday, a total of 27,004 fresh Covid-19 cases were recorded, fewer than the 28,298 logged the day before.

According to the Health Ministry’s data on its CovidNow website, 3.92 million people in Malaysia have been infected since the onset of the pandemic.

The ministry said 86 deaths were logged yesterday, 35 of which were classified dead on arrival.

Earlier in his policy speech to delegates in opening the Umno general assembly, party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to dissolve Parliament soon, to pave the way for a general election.

Khairy noted the prime minister has to take into account the national recovery, institutional reform promises made with the opposition under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the Health Ministry’s views, before calling a general election.

“Our borders will open on April 1 and we want to monitor the situation. We expect a smooth process and no pressure on our health system, but we do not know if new variants will spring up.”

“Omicron already has a sub-variant and we are monitoring this,” he added.

Meanwhile, Khairy said there were still points of the MOU that needed to be satisfied, so it was premature to call for an extension.

“(One issue is) the anti-party hopping bill. It is being delayed a bit because we want to fix some things in the draft.

“Once it is ready, it will be tabled in Parliament and approved. It is premature to talk about an extension. Let’s sort the original agreement first,” he said. – March 18, 2022.