Barisan Nasional secretary-general Mohamed Rahmat said he expects the general election to be simultaneously conducted with the Sabah polls early next year to save costs.

"I think not this year but early next year," he told reporters after the opening ceremony of Gerakan's 32nd national delegates conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The mandate of the Sabah state assembly ends on April 12 next year while the current parliamentary term expires in November, also next year.

If simultaneous state and national polls are called in Sabah, then Sarawak will be the only state holding separate state and general elections. The term of the current Sarawak government only ends in September 2006.

According to Bernama, Rahmat said the general election could still be called anytime as the BN had issued directives to all its component parties to get ready and be on the alert.

Concerned over seat jostling

He also said the BN was ready to field young candidates in the coming general election.

Nevertheless, he was concerned about the jostling for candidacy and fears this would prove costly to the coalition.

For instance, he said, similar jostling for seats had caused the BN to lose both Terengganu and Kelantan in the last general election, when it had the strength to take over both.

Mohamed said the BN should also be fully prepared for the opposition's use of information technology for the election.

He said the ruling party should find a way to counter the allegations and criticisms leveled against it by the opposition through the Internet and SMS (short messaging service) via mobile phones.

When opening the conference, Prime Minister and BN chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad had reminded components to stop petty squabbling and focus instead on ensuring a clean sweep in the coming polls.