As many media anticipated Abdullah Badawi dissolves Parliament on Feb 13. The hints was the 13 is one of his favorite number.

The date of election will be announce tomorrow.

Please use the Electoral Roll Checking service of Malaysia Election Commission to check from your polling station, parliament and state seat of your area.

News extracted from Bernama

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at noon today announces the dissolution of Parliament at his office in Putrajaya with effect from today until 16 May 2009; 15 months earlier than the expiry of its five-year term, to pave way for the 12th general election.

The prime minister also advised all the state governments, except Sarawak, to dissolve their state assemblies to enable the state elections to be held simultaneously.

He said he had an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin this morning and had received his consent to dissolve the 11th Parliament.

The dissolution of this Parliament was made 15 months before the expiry of its five-year term on May 16, 2009.

The Election Commission (EC) is expected to meet soon to fix the dates for nominations and polling.

Political observers had forecast that the polls would be held early next month, with nominations expected in the last week of February, based on the EC practice of fixing only 10 days for campaigning in several past elections.

Under Article 55(4) of the Federal Constitution, a general election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of Parliament. However, the EC practice after 1969 has been to hold the election within 16 to 20 days of the dissolution.

The 11th general election was held on March 21, 2004, 17 days after the dissolution of Parliament.

A total of 222 parliamentary seats will be contested this time, three more than in the last election due to the new seats in Sarawak following the electoral delineation in 2006. At the state level, 505 seats will be contested.

Before today’s dissolution, the BN held 199 seats in the Dewan Rakyat and the opposition 20, with the DAP holding 12, PAS six and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and an independent, one each.
Feedback from opposition parties.