SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government has still not decided whether to dissolve the state assembly at the same time as the dissolution of Parliament by the federal government to pave the way for the 13th general election.
Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said Selangor’s plan of whether to hold a separate state election from the parliamentary election or simultaneously, was a state government strategy but this would all depend on the prime minister’s announcement on the date of the upcoming general election.
“We don’t know the actual date … it has been all speculation. Some say it’ll be good for Selangor to have separate (state and parliamentary) elections, while some are for simultaneous elections.
“Our discussions have been based on speculation (on the date of the general election) and the strategies in facing it,” he told reporters, here, yesterday.
Khalid was earlier asked to comment on opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement recently that Selangor would not be holding its state election simultaneously with the other states.
Anwar, who is also Permatang Pauh MP, is expecting the 13th general election to be held in November, based on the increasingly clear indications given by the prime minister.
“We are looking at the strategy … it’ll be good if we can hold separate elections … but if the general election is held in March next year, then we can’t hold separate elections,” said Khalid.
“What Datuk Seri Anwar had said on our behalf was just an election strategy … the question was posed to him and he answered it.”
Khalid said the main reason for the Selangor government not having decided whether to dissolve the state assembly at the same time as Parliament, was because it wanted to ensure the Election Commission’s electoral roll was really clean.
“Until now, we have found almost 50,000 registered voters in Selangor whose status are still doubted, and we will use various means to identify them to ensure that they really exist,” he added. — Bernama