Selangor pours cold water on DAP’s snap polls suggestion
(MMO) – The Selangor government rejected today the DAP’s call for early elections in the state, saying that it intends to continue its mandate to the people.
The office of Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who is from PKR, said the MB was looking at legal avenues to object to the recent electoral redelineation, which Pakatan Harapan has claimed puts Selangor at risk of falling back to the hands of Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general elections.
“Consistent with previous statements made in the last few months, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali has stated that there are no plans for snap elections in Selangor.
“The mandate delivered to the Selangor government by voters in the 2013 elections must be respected and should not be cast aside for political expediency,” strategic communications director Yin Shao Loong said.
The DAP earlier today announced that it wants state polls to be held in Selangor before the Election Commission (EC) gains approval for its controversial redelineation exercise.
Selangor DAP chairman Tony Pua said the party “unanimously” agreed to early elections in the state during an emergency meeting yesterday, but will wait for its Pakatan Harapan allies PKR and Amanah to reach a consensus.
He reasoned that the decision was made as the recent redelineation exercise affects Selangor the worst compared to other states and that snap polls would be one way for the federal opposition pact to retain power.
Although Pakatan Rakyat has broken up and a new federal opposition pact formed among PKR, DAP and Amanah, PAS remains in the Selangor state government.
The EC in an 18-page notice had reportedly proposed to alter the electoral boundaries of several parliamentary and state constituencies in all states bar Perlis, Labuan and Putrajaya.
The proposed amendments could see 12 parliamentary and 34 state constituencies in the peninsula undergo a name change while it also listed 13 proposed new state constituencies for Sabah, increasing the number of the state seats to 73.
