Don’t remove 5-year ban on MPs who quit, says lawyer

 

Faiz Fadzil says MPs could exploit the removal of the five-year ban to resign and jump ship to another party under which they could stand for elections again. (Bernama pic)

GEORGE TOWN: The five-year ban on contesting in elections for MPs who resign as legislators should be maintained, a state assemblyman and lawyer said today.

Faiz Fadzil, an Amanah assemblyman in Penang, said the ban was designed to stop MPs from resigning at will and causing hardship to voters who would have to go to the polls again.

In paving the way to enact an anti-party hopping law, the government said it would do away with Article 48(6) of the Federal Constitution, which disqualifies a person from contesting in any parliamentary seat for five years.

In a statement, the Permatang Pasir assemblyman said the government should instead add a clause to Article 48 to deter anti-hopping and also include provisions for a recall election.

“Removing the five-year ban would only see a flurry of resignations, and MPs would exploit this to resign and jump ship to another party. This goes against the spirit of having an anti-hopping law in the first place.

“We will also see repeated elections and a waste of taxpayers’ money. Hence, Article 48(6) should be maintained,” the Penang politician said.

On Monday, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said both the government and Pakatan Harapan had agreed to repeal Article 48(6) of the Federal Constitution and make other necessary changes.

A bipartisan committee is considering three criteria to qualify an action to be considered party hopping.

The first is when an MP announces that he/she is leaving the political party under which he/she contested in an election to become an independent member or to join another political party.

The second is when an MP is expelled from his/her political party and subsequently joins another party. The third is when an independent MP joins any political party after winning an election.

Recently, Bernama reported constitutional law expert Shad Saleem Faruqi as suggesting that MPs who hopped parties should quit their seat and stand in a by-election. He said Article 48 (6) should be amended to include this. - FMT