Snap polls likely delayed,UMNO's coffer depleted....

Datuk Seri Najib Razak is likely to delay calling snap polls until end of this year or early 2012 as his party hunts for funds to finance a campaign to court Bumiputera and Indian voters and secure a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Umno’s coffers are depleted after the Barisan Nasional (BN) spent some RM500 million for the April 16 Sarawak election. It is learnt that tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary is among the very few to contribute, partly explaining his conglomerate scooping lucrative deals this past year.

“Umno is looking for contributions as it takes a fair bit to run an election campaign. Until then, there won’t be an election,” a BN source told The Malaysian Insider.

He pointed out that money was slow to reach the ground in Election 2008, prompting party workers to slacken which led to BN’s historic losses of the two-third parliamentary majority and four states to Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told The Malaysian Insider that he believes Umno’s increasingly ultra-Malay stance as well as the emergence of a sex video aimed at discrediting PR’s image are definite signs that general elections will be called by August.

“I would say anywhere before puasa (fasting month), before August. If not, immediately after fasting month,” Anwar said.

But BN insiders say Najib is cautious about calling elections soon as he wants to regain the coalition’s two-thirds parliamentary majority which now appears impossible with the Chinese snub continuing in the Sarawak election.

Najib told the Chinese community yesterday to either support MCA or lose representation in a BN government. MCA won 15 out of the 40 federal seats and 31 out of 90 state seats in Election 2008.

“BN is working on the Bumiputera and Indian voters now. Chinese votes will be a bonus now after his statement yesterday,” another BN source told The Malaysian Insider.

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source:malaysian insider

Anwar predicts polls before August

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