PETALING JAYA: PAS will not make a joint decision with Pakatan Harapan (PH) as to when it will dissolve the legislative assemblies in the three states it leads.
PAS-controlled Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu and PH-led Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Penang had decided not to hold their state elections simultaneously with the 15th general election (GE15) on Nov 19.
According to Sinar Harian, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today said the party would have no objections if the states led by PH dissolved their state assemblies in June.
He said PAS would decide on its own when it was best to hold the state elections in the three states. This matter is likely to be discussed at the next meeting of the party’s top leadership.
“We will discuss among ourselves and it is up to us when to dissolve the state assemblies (in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu),” he said at an event in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan.
“Whether they (PH) want to follow us … that’s up to them.
“They have been following us a lot … Before this, when we said we didn’t agree with Parliament being dissolved (before GE15), they said the same thing, too.”
Hadi said PAS would have to study various aspects before setting a suitable date for the dissolution of the state assemblies.
Among these were the impact the state elections would have on students, young voters, those travelling home to vote and people returning for the Hari Raya holidays.
Last month, the Election Commission (EC) said the six states which had yet to hold elections should consider doing so simultaneously.
EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said doing so would help the EC to better coordinate the deployment of manpower in the six states, estimating that holding the polls simultaneously would cost RM450 million.
“It’s easier if all the states cooperated and dissolved their state assemblies at the same time,” he said.
Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow previously said the state was open to discussing with Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor to dissolve their legislative assemblies simultaneously to allow for state elections to be held together.
