Three By-elections at one go.

Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia:

Aziz Yusof, Chairman of The Malaysian Election Commission, fresh from a meeting announced that the three by-electionswill be held simultaneously no April 7th,2009.

Up for grabs are, one Parliamentary seat in the state of Perak, oen state Legislative seat in the state of Kedah and another state Legislative seat in the state of Sarawak.

The vacant Parliamentary seat was previously held by The Islamic Party, a member of the Opposition People’s Front. The state seat known as Bukit Selambau was previously held by PKR, the party of Anwar Ibrahim, the Opposition Leader. The state seat in Sarawak was vacant as a result of the death of a junior minister from the Parti Rakyat Sarawak, a memeber of the National Front Coalition.

The Malaysian Election came to a conclusion that it is better to hold the by-election at one go to avoid a prolonged period of campaigning. Holding the by-election simultaneously also is more economic which is a must in times of recession as now.

Past experiences have shown that a long period of campaigning can be very volatile and resulting in hostile confrontation between the opposing parties. In a multi-racial country such as Malaysia, a single spark can result in racial riot which the commission cannot afford to experience.

While the ruling National Front Coalition welcomed the announcement, the Opposition People’s Front said it favoured the ruling party. The People’s Front also accused the government of trying to make them bankrupt since they did not have the resource to fund their candidate’s campaign.

Political pundits here have already said that the chances seemed to be favoring the ruling party, National Front. Although one additional Parliamentary seat is mathematically too little and too late, leaders of the the National Front agreed that it is a real psychological boost.