PEKAN, March 20 – The decision of the Election Commission (EC) to hold the state and parliamentary election simultaneously during the 13th general election, is final. Deputy EC chairman, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the decision was made after considering several concrete factors including saving the people’s money.
“The EC will hold state and parliament election simultaneously…since holding separate elections will involve a huge amount of money and a waste of the people’s time,” he told reporters after a working visit to the Pekan Parliamentary constituency here today.
Wan Ahmad said, if the state and parliament elections were to be held separately, EC would incur a much higher travelling cost and election process. Earlier, several states administered by the opposition had expressed desire not to hold their state election together with the parliamentary election during the 13th general election.
On EC’s preparation in Pahang, Wan Ahmad said the EC was prepared in terms of logistics including providing air transportation to carry ballot boxes from remote areas to the vote tallying centres.
“In Pahang, the EC is providing air transportation in Rompin, Jerantut and Cameron Highlands, to carry ballot boxes from the areas involved.
“The move is taken as travelling by land will take between two to three hours to reach the vote tallying centres,” he said.
BERNAMA
