KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (NNN-Bernama) — The general election, state elections and by-elections will not be held during the period of the COVID-19 emergency proclaimed Tuesday and to remain in force until Aug 1, clarified Muhyiddin Yassin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prime minister said it is not his intention to not call a general election but the COVID-19 pandemic is the major reason preventing him from advising the King, Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve parliament for a general election to be held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This decision is in accordance with one of the five principles of maqasid syariah, <\/em>namely protection of life. In this context, it is my duty as the head of government to protect the lives of the people from COVID-19 infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is the main concept demanded by Islam,\u201d he said in a special national address broadcast live by local television stations Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, Muhyiddin gave a firm commitment that elections will be held once the special Independent Committee to be set up to manage the COVID-19 situation gives the word that the disease has eased off or the country has fully recovered from the pandemic and that it is safe to hold elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Under normal circumstances, a by-election must be held within 60 days of a seat falling vacant; a state election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of the state legislative assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We know that the people do not want elections to be held now so as to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections like in the case of the recent Sabah state election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Muhyiddin said that after the special Independent Committee recommends that it is safe to hold elections, it will be up to the people to elect a government which they think is qualified to govern the country and look after the welfare of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is a commitment and pledge that I will fulfill, Insya Allah<\/em> (God willing),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prime minister said that at a time when the country and people are facing a major difficulty, it is very important for all politicians to set aside their differences and be in solidarity with the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When the time comes for political activity, engage in it with full responsibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Muhyiddin also said that during the period of the emergency, parliament and the state legislative assemblies will not convene until such time as stipulated by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah consented to the proclamation of an emergency to be in effect up to Aug 1 as a proactive measure to contain the worsening COVID-19 pandemic in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n — NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (NNN-Bernama) — The general election, state elections and by-elections will not be held during the period of the COVID-19 emergency proclaimed Tuesday and to remain in force until Aug 1, clarified Muhyiddin Yassin. The prime minister said it is not his intention to not call a general election but the COVID-19 pandemic is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":109165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,286,318,291,269],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109162"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/109165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}