A viral message on social media setting out the timeline of Malaysia's 14th General Election (GE) has been called out as 'fake news'.

An example of the message being circulated online can be seen below:

The message mentioned Jan 11, 2018, as the date for the dissolution of Parliament, and March 11 and 25 as the dates for nomination and polling, respectively.

Viral message is 'fake news'

However, according to the Election Commission (EC) chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Hashim Abdullah, who was quoted in a report by Bernama  on Thursday (Dec 28), the dates do not make sense.

This is because the period between the purported dissolution of Parliament on Jan 11 and polling on March 25 exceeded the 60-day limit within which a general election must be held.

Also, the parliament can only be dissolved with the consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the head of state), on the advice of the Prime Minister.

He has advised the Malaysian public to ignore the message.

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Election to be held after Chinese New Year next year

Malaysia's GE is due by August next year.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said earlier that the ruling Barisan Nasional's readiness to face the 14th general election is at 9.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

He confirmed that the polls will likely be held after Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 16.

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Top image adapted from Facebook post.