Malaysiakini: EC says no by-election in Perak

The Election Commission today announced that by-elections were not necessary for the state seats of Changkat Jering and Behrang as there were doubts on the resignation letters submitted by the elected representatives.

EC said that it received the resignations letter of the duo from the Perak speaker V Sivakumar on Feb 2.

On the same day, the commission also received letters from the two state representatives disputing that they had resigned.

"As such, EC decided that it cannot establish that vacancies have occurred.

"Thus it will not be able to call for by-elections. The two seats are still held by the two state representatives," EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf told a packed press conference at the EC headquarters in Putrajaya at 1pm.

"There exist doubts over the validity of the resignation letters submitted by the Perak state assembly speaker given the fact that the incumbents for both state constituencies had, with total realisation, submitted letters to discount both the submitted resignation letters as invalid.

"By this, the EC have decided that it does not have the power to invoke article 36 (5) of the constitution of the state of Perak to establish that there are casual vacancies for both the constituencies.

"By this, we have decided that both the seats will remain as the incumbents' whom had won them (legally) in the last general election," he added.

The press conference was held after the EC had an emergency meeting to discuss the controversy.

(Source: Malaysiakini)

I wonder when the 'roller-coaster' ride in Perak is going to end. It seems to be going nowhere.