EC: Automatic Parliament dissolution on April 30, not April 28

The Election Commission (EC) clarified today that the actual date of the automatic dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat is April 30 and not April 28 as hitherto reported.

Its chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, said that as April 28 would fall on a Sunday the date of maturity of the house was pushed to Monday April 29 and the Dewan Rakyat would dissolve automatically at midnight on that day.

"The change of date is based on the regulations of the EC and verified by its legal division. Some holidays cannot be taken into account," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Many quarters had assumed that the Dewan Rakyat should have been dissolved on March 9, going by the reasoning that the 12th general election was held on March 8, 2008.

However, the date of maturity of a five-year term of the Dewan Rakyat is from the first day of the convening of the house after a general election.

After the general election in 2008, the Dewan Rakyat convened for the first time on April 28 of that year, which is 51 days after the polls.