Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said that local council elections are off the cards, warning of racial conflict and a wide urban-rural divide should they be held.
“No local council elections.
“[...] Local council elections may produce the wrong result. The urban (areas) may be different, the rural (areas) will be different.
“There will be conflict, emphasised probably by racial differences and the like. We don’t want that to happen,” he said when asked during a press conference after officiating at the Empowering Local Councils Convention at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre this morning.
Also present was Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who previously estimated that mayoral and local council president elections would be held within three years, after the country’s economy stabilised.
Civil society groups and residential associations have been calling for local council elections to be reinstated.
Called the third vote, it is also a central topic of discussion at today’s convention. - Mkini
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