ANTHONY Loke will propose to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) council that states controlled by the pact hold elections at the same time as the Federal ballot.

The DAP secretary-general said PH had earlier said it will not hold the state elections for states it controlled, Selangor, Penang and Negri Sembilan if a snap election was called.

In July last year, the PH council had said it would not opt for simultaneous state elections if Putrajaya dissolved parliament and went to the polls.

But the Seremban lawmaker said the likelihood of an election any time soon appeared dim.

“At the time, we expected there could be a snap general election in the near future, but now, we see that as unlikely.”

“There is a lot of speculation that, at the earliest, a snap general election will only be held at the end of the year after the budget is tabled.

“So I will propose to the Harapan presidential council that if Parliament is dissolved at the end of the year, meaning after November, then we should consider simultaneous polls,” he told a press conference in his constituency today.

Though Umno is pushing for an early Federal election, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been silent on the matter.

Last May while in Japan Ismail Sabri said he would call for a ballot only if inflation and high prices were brought under control

“We will have to wait for the right time (to call the election),” the prime minister said on the sidelines of Nikkei’s Future of Asia conference in Tokyo last week. “We are now facing a period of increasing inflation with high prices. Do you think this is the right time?” he was quoted as saying by the Nikkei news agency.

The former transport minister said the timeline between the federal election and state polls controlled by Pakatan was small, it could trigger indifference among voters.

He said voters might not be inclined to return twice to vote for the general election and later for the state election if the gap is small. – June 26, 2022.