SHAH ALAM, 10 Feb: The Election Commission (EC) is ready to hold a by-election at any time for the seat of the Permatang Pauh Parliament that was occupied by the Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The EC Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, said that it must be done after the EC receives a letter of notification from the Assembly Speaker regarding the vacancy of the seat.
“Although the court has made a decision on the case against him, the EC needs to wait for the letter from the Speaker of the House of Representatives for confirmation on the matter.
“After the EC received the Speaker’s letter stating the court’s decision, only then the EC will meet with the EC panel to discuss the date the vacancy took place and after deciding the date of vacancy, only can the EC decide on the nomination date, the early voting date and the date for normal voting.
“According to the law, the EC needs to announce that it cannot be earlier than four days from the date declared by the EC and it cannot exceed 10 days from the date of the vacancy,” said Abdul Aziz when contacted by Selangor Kini today.
He explained that after the date of vacancy is declared, the EC needs to choose the nomination day, the early voting day and the normal voting day within a period of 60 days from the date of vacancy.
Today, Anwar was sentenced to five years in prison after the Federal Court maintained the charges against him in the trial of the Defamation II case.
The punishment includes him losing eligibility as a Member of Parliament according to Article 48 (1) of the federal Constitution that states that a Parliamentarian can be disqualified if given a jail sentence of over a year or fined more than RM2,000.
NS
