I do not understand why the Election Commission chairperson decided to earmark the by-election date for Pendang and Anak Bukit on July 18, Thursday, which is a working day in Kedah. As the campaign period is eight days, the nomination date is July 10.

After announcing the election date, he urged employers to let their employees off for at least for one hour to cast their votes, citing Section 25 of the Election Offences Act which fines employers RM500 if they disallow employees time-off to vote.

Voters whose workplace is outside the area may need longer than an hour to get to the polling station. They may have to apply for annual leave just to vote. Either way, both employers and employees lose out.

He said the short campaign period is to prevent any security problems from brewing in the contesting political parties. Yet if he were to set the election just a day or two later, voters will not be caught in a bind as Friday and Saturday are not working days in Kedah.

What is the rationale for limiting the campaign period to just eight days? How many 'problems' can ferment in one or two more days of campaigning? If the EC is inflexible in the eight-day limit, it could have set nomination day on July 11 or 12.

By setting the election day on a working day, it might affect voter turnout which may be lower than in the previous general election or the Indera Kayangan by-election which was on a non-working day. Voters who have to work on that day may be discouraged from casting the ballot if taking time off is inconvenient.

Is there a hidden agenda in the election date? It smacks of it especially since the opposition is not given airtime to voice their views in the mainstream media and state-controlled television stations.