He said such elections could only be conducted by the Election Commission.

“There will be legitimacy only if we follow the law,” Lim said in reply to lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, who was moderator of the session “Hard Talk”, titled “Challenges of Enhancing Democratic Space at Federal and State Levels”.

The event was held in conjunction with the International Malaysia Law Conference here.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, said he had to also consult PKR, its coalition partner in the state government, on this matter.

Ambiga, who is Human Rights Society president, said Penang could still elect councillors through informal means although the Federal Court had ruled that the existing laws had no provision for such elections.

She said elections could remove allegations that political parties in power practised patronage by nominating their supporters.

The DAP was in the forefront of introducing the third vote to allow ratepayers in local governments to elect their councillors.

The Penang Government filed a suit to compel the EC to hold elections, but the apex court in 2014 dismissed the case.

Bersih 2.0 Chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, who was a speaker, said when the Pakatan Rakyat captured power in Selangor, there were 12 slots allocated to civil societies.

“Today, that number has been reduced to one.”

She also said that at the initial stage, councillors in Selangor were elected by grassroots leaders who were then appointed by the state government.

Chin, however, said this method was also abandoned.

On another matter, Lim said he did not bar Umno-linked newspaper reporters from covering his events, but had sued them for false reporting.

“I had to file defamation suits as the newspapers refused to give us the right to reply.”

He said action had to be taken or else the public perception would be that the reports were true.