Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has predicted that the general election will be held after the next Hari Raya which is in mid-October.

He made known his prediction after chairing a four-hour PBB supreme council meeting in Kuching, the Borneo Post reported today. The meeting was to prepare for the election, he said.

In Sarawak, only parliamentary seats are involved in a national election. The state holds its elections for the state legislature separately.

On preparations for the elections, Taib who is also state BN chairperson said PBB was ready but he has not received reports from the other coalition parties - Supp, SPDP and PRS.

"I think the election would be around anytime after Hari Raya, so all BN elected representatives must check their constituencies' electoral roll.

"Every rep should now look at the voters' list that will be published by the Election Commission over the next few weeks to ensure that their voters' names are complete.

"If there are new voters who want to come in, they should try to register them. These are routine things but I want to re-emphasise it," said Taib.

On the internal problems in PRS and Supp, the chief minister said he could not take direct action on the affairs of another party as he would be accused of interfering.

Feeling for BN strong

However, he said that he tried to give his own opinions on how such problems could be solved and he left it to the individual parties to act on his advice.

"But whatever their problems, if it is a problem of squabbles at the top only, then I think the top leadership of the party must brace themselves to make a decision on how best to decide on the election matters".

Taib said that on the ground the feeling for BN is still very strong, including among the Chinese.

"All we need are good candidates who are acceptable to their constituents," he added.

For the coming elections, Sarawak has three new parliamentary seats. They are Igan, Sibuti and Limbang, bringing the number of constituencies from 28 to 31.

The seat tally after the last parliamentary election on March 22, 2004 is PBB (11), Supp (6), the now defunct PBDS (6), SPDP (4) and DAP (1).