Selangor to push local elections Bill next year
(TMI) – The Local Government Election Bill drafted by the Selangor government will be tabled in the state legislative assembly next year.
The state executive councillor in charge of local councils, Teng Chang Khim, said the basis of this was to return democracy rights to the people.
“The local polls will be conducted in stages once the Bill is passed,” he said.
Selangor and Penang are the two states which are to introduce local government elections to ensure councillors are voted into local government, and not appointed. No other state has indicated interest in following suit.
“The local government election is different from the general and state election. But the proposed law will not contradict the federal constitution and the Local Government Act,” Teng said.
“The mechanism will be studied when the draft of the Bill is finalised.”
When asked if the election process will involve the Election Commission, Teng said the details of the Bill have to be looked at first.
“We may even have a different mechanism. So we need to finalise these first before disclosing further details,” he added.
