THE Ministry of Health will strongly advise against a general election being held anytime soon, its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

Considering several factors, Khairy said that this will not be a right time to call for a general election and that it should be avoided.

“The ministry’s stance is that it is not suitable to hold a general election at this time.

“This is because the situation of the cases is still worrying. There is an increase in hospital admissions and now there is the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant.

“So I think if a general election is held at this time, it is very irresponsible,” Khairy said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

There were reports stating that Malaysia’s biggest Malay party Umno will call for an early general election after its coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) won the Malacca state polls convincingly with a two-third majority.

BN won 21 of 28 seats contested, leaving Pakatan Harapan with five seats and Perikatan Nasional with two seats.

Khairy said the Malacca polls could not be avoided because the state assembly was dissolved.

He, however, said the Sarawak election can be avoided, if they want to.

The 12th Sarawak election will take place on December 18, with early voting set for December 14. Nomination will be on December 6.

Khairy said the standard operating procedure for the state polls will be finalised soon before they recommend it to the Election Commission. – November 26, 2021.