Fix Dates Not Force Concurrent Federal State Elections

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 In response to the call by DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke on Sept 21 for the federal and state elections in the peninsula to be held simultaneously to save costs, we would like to emphasise that money must not be the only or overarching consideration in deciding the election date.
If the goal is truly economic benefit, then in today’s climate crisis - where unpredictable disasters like the Sabah floods can strike at any time - the greater gain comes from certainty and predictability - not simultaneity - in the election calendar.
Fixed election dates provide that certainty by removing the guesswork of when polls will be called, reducing disruptions to disaster preparedness, emergency response, and broader economic planning.
Loke should instead push for a fixed-term parliament or legislature so that the Election Commission (EC) can predetermine election dates to ease preparation.
Of course, early dissolution must be allowed as an option if the government has lost the legislature’s confidence or a cross-party consensus has emerged for an early election.
Our full position is as follows.
Forcing simultaneous federal-state elections in parliamentary systems is centralising federal control of the states. State elections are commonly held separately from the federal elections in India, Australia, Canada and Germany.
Even the 1955 and 1959 state elections in Malaya were held on different dates from each other and from the federal election. In Australia, the federal law explicitly prohibits state elections from being held simultaneously with federal elections.
Contrary to Loke’s assertion, the prime minister can only decide the dissolution of Parliament. Dissolution of the respective state legislatures is the prerogative of the respective menteri besar or chief minister.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim certainly does not control the states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Malacca, Pahang and Perak. Menteris besar or chief ministers must not be forced to dissolve their assemblies.
The old authoritarian order under BN, in which the PM could instruct states to dissolve their legislatures simultaneously, must not be resurrected.
Cutting short tenures
Synchronised federal and peninsula state elections mean that the next election must be held according to the earliest dissolution date, in this case, Dec 26, 2026, for Malacca.
To have Parliament and all 11 state legislatures dissolved on this day means cutting short the tenures of the Johor government by 115 days, the federal government by 357 days, and of the nine other peninsula state governments by 357-639 days.
Would the costs saved from conducting simultaneous elections outweigh the loss due to shortened or disrupted governance?
Simultaneous federal-state elections may cause voters to treat both elections as their verdict on national politics, hence potentially suppressing state- or local-level issues.
While theoretically, voters can vote for different parties in simultaneous federal state elections, empirically, electoral campaigns narrow down the focus.
As simultaneous federal-state elections capture the political mood for different legislatures at one particular point, they likely produce similar outcomes for all or most of them.
If a particular party or coalition is very popular, it may produce a strong majority across the legislature, reducing checks and balances. If another party or coalition wins a strong majority across the legislatures in the next election, the nation’s politics may swing from one end to another, causing turbulent and disruptive changes.
In contrast, separate federal and state elections capture different political moods at different times for different legislatures, making it less likely for such winner-takes-all outcomes and encouraging inter-party accommodation.
Separate elections can also reduce the EC’s burden to run so many elections at once, enable it to introduce incremental reforms in an experimental manner, and allow all individuals, agencies and groups involved in the electoral process to retain and improve their knowledge. All these can enhance the quality of electoral administration.
More disciplined than speculative
Instead of forcing all state elections in the peninsula to be held in tandem with the federal election and giving the PM more control over state-level politics, Malaysia needs preannounced election dates and more predictable election cycles through a fixed-term legislature arrangement.
When elections can be planned years ahead in the absence of extraordinary circumstances like the government’s loss of confidence, governments would be more disciplined than speculative in their governance, and preparations for natural disasters in the age of climate change can be better planned and executed with one less source of uncertainty.
Both would generate greater economic benefit in the longer run.
By fixing election dates, the EC can plan the operations of elections with certainty, especially the recruitment and training of polling staff. This is, in turn, reinforcing any moves to implement election reforms.
As the EC has so far refused to provide postal or early voting facilities for out-of-constituency voters, voters who have to return home to vote can plan ahead their travel.
Looking at the proximity of their automatic dissolution dates, and to avoid cutting short a government’s full term by more than six months, it is reasonable to hold the federal election together with the state elections of Perlis, Perak and Pahang sometime in January or February 2028.
Johor alone can dissolve its legislature four months earlier to join Malacca for the state election somewhere in January or February 2027.
Finally, the remaining six states that had their last elections in August 2023 can have their state elections together sometime in October or November 2028.
- Mkini
This statement was jointly issued by PROJEK SAMA, BERSIH, ENGAGE, TINDAK and RISE OF SOCIAL EFFORTS.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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