LEADERS of Malaysia’s political parties were making their last efforts on the last day of campaigning ahead of today’s polling for the country’s highly contested election.

The official campaign period ended midnight yesterday before Malaysians go to the ballot box today.

Both Najib Razak, the incumbent Prime Minister who leads the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, and Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister who heads the opposition against his former camp, were expected to spend the last day before the election at their own constituencies.

The two were both scheduled to give speeches in the evening in a last bid to win voters.

The 92-year-old Mahathir, despite his advanced age, has been touring the country during the campaign, calling for change after 60 years of uninterrupted governing by the ruling coalition in the country since independence.

In a televised interview and an article published on his blog Monday, Najib stressed the track record of his government since he came to office in 2009.

“The average growth of 5.4 percent since 2010, which the world’s advanced economies could only wish for,” he said in the article.

He also defended the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which the opposition blamed for the rise of living costs and has since vowed to abolish.

“I knew that without GST, our economy would continue to be overly reliant on the price of oil,” he said.

Tay Tian Yan, deputy executive editor-in-chief of the local Sinchew Daily, said many were discontented by the GST although it was considered a more sensible and fair tax.

The ruling coalition was widely favored ahead of the election, but it became a close race in the runup to polling day.

By accepting Mahathir, the opposition coalition hope the former prime minister could break into the ruling coalition’s stronghold in the rural area and among the ethnic Malay voters, who account for the majority of the country’s population, said Tay.

Mahathir, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister from 1981 until 2003, fell out with Najib after he accused the incumbent prime minister of corruption in relation to the state investment fund 1MDB. Najib has denied any wrongdoing. Mahathir later joined the opposition and became its candidate for prime minister.

The election today will see 15 million voters vote for 222 seats of the lower house of the parliament and 505 seats in the state legislations.  (Xinhua)