KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will hold a general election on Nov. 19, and about 21 million Malaysians are eligible to vote this year, to elect lawmakers to the 222-seat lower house of parliament.

Parliamentary candidates will have to file their nominations on Nov. 5, commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh told a news conference on Thursday. Campaigning will be held for two weeks.

The party or coalition that wins a simple majority (112 seats) will form the next government, Reuters reports.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who has been nominated as UMNO's PM candidate again, dissolved parliament on Oct. 10 and called for snap polls, saying an election would end years of political instability.

Malaysia has had three prime ministers since the last election in 2018.

The polls come earlier than the September 2023 deadline and during the annual monsoon season that has already triggered floods across Malaysia. — Agencies