PETALING JAYA (April 5): Hot on the heels of Wednesday's dissolution of Parliament is speculation over the nomination and polling date of the 13th general election.

Article 55(4) of the Federal Constitution dictates that elections must be called within 60 days after the dissolution of Parliament, which makes May 28 the last polling date.

Pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) blogger Ahirudin Attan on Wednesday posted on his Rocky's Bru blog that polls will be held in May and preceded by "one of the longest, if not the longest, campaign periods in Malaysia's election history".

Various NGOs and political observers have poured cold water on this prediction as they believe that "dragging" the polling date to May would be "too much" for a nation that has been kept waiting for "too long".

But not everyone agrees. According to Tindak Malaysia founder Wong Piang Yow, rejecting a May election date on the sole basis of the time frame is a flawed concept.

"Why are you using the word 'dragging'?" he asked. "The nomination date hasn't been announced yet and the campaign period hasn't begun."

"And an election in May is in full compliance with the constitution as was the date for Parliament's dissolution. There is nothing unusual about going full term."

Wong emphasised that of greater importance than an early election was a campaign period that is long enough for candidates to properly explain their manifestos so that the electorate could make an informed decision.

According to him, the ideal length of the campaign period should be calculated with overseas voters in mind and the time it would take for a voter to travel home from the furthest distance away.

"The Election Commission (EC) must take the worst-case scenario into account," Wong added.

"How many days would it take for a voter in Timbuktu to travel home to Malaysia? To me, an ideal campaign period should be between 21 and 24 days."

Bersih 2.0 co-chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Monash University's political analyst James Chin both feel that a May election would be a bad idea.

Ambiga warned that a "delayed" campaign period after a "delayed" dissolution would risk exhausting the electorate despite the current excitement on the ground.

"My view is that it doesn't need to drag," she told fz.com. "And you would be surprised that this is coming from Bersih who has asked for a longer campaign period."

"We still need a reasonable time frame for overseas voters and Malaysians abroad to return but May is another month. I don't think that is justified."

Chin, on the other hand, didn't believe in the likelihood of a May election and predicted that the latest polling date would fall on May 2.

"A May election would be bad for everyone as more scandals will come to light and this time there will be more personal attacks," he said.

Instead, he urged the EC to wrap things up quickly in light of a "tired and fed-up" electorate and for the sake of the candidates and campaign workers who may not be able to last a long drawn-out campaign period.

Wong's response to this was to point out that no law in the world specified that a candidate had to campaign for the whole period.

"He can always go to sleep, wake up at the last minute and campaign for the last two days," he said. "That's what we do in our exams anyway."