In a statement, it said the FPTP system required a by-election whenever vacancies arise due to the illness or death of incumbents, or when they become incapable or disqualified, or resign.
It said the resignation of Port Dickson MP Danyal Balagopal Abdullah to allow Anwar to contest a by-election showed “the rigidity of the FPTP system in allowing parties to alter their leadership line-up”.
“Admittedly, Anwar’s case is unique – unqualified to contest because of a politically motivated imprisonment, yet named as the next prime minister in a pre-election pact which elected in 55% of parliamentarians – and will not have an easy solution under any electoral system because of his sentence.
“However, the inflexibility for parties to adjust their leadership line-up – necessary for parliamentary governments – has wide implications beyond this case and beyond by-elections to replace deceased incumbents.”
It said one such consequence was the practice of appointing defeated candidates or unelected technocrats as senators before their appointment as ministers or deputy ministers.
“This makes the senate even more of a rubber stamp,” it said, adding that Pakatan Harapan (PH) now had five senators.
“More idiosyncratically, Anwar’s Kajang Move in 2014 was triggered because his party could not name him as a back-up candidate for menteri besar without a by-election.”
Noting that Anwar had triggered three by-elections so far, twice due to political trials, Bersih said the PKR president elect had a moral responsibility to clarify whether he wished to keep the FPTP system and “conveniently bend it to his interest”.
“It is high time for Malaysians to consider, and for Anwar to take a stand, on whether we want to continue having all our parliamentarians and state lawmakers elected through the FPTP system, or if we should move to a mixed-member system with some lawmakers elected through party list proportional representation (List-PR),” it said.
Although acknowledging the issue of dynastic politics brought up by Anwar’s move to contest in Port Dickson, Bersih said the bigger question was the “opaque” and “top-down” candidacy selection process across almost every party in the country.
Noting that the May 9 general election had seen many new candidates fielded by both PH and Barisan Nasional in last-minute arrangements, Bersih said this was often against the will of local branches and caused discontent, boycott or even sabotage.
“The resigned parliamentarian for Port Dickson was such a last-minute pick,” it added.
By right, it said, FPTP candidates should be selected from the bottom up by local branches, not party headquarters, as is done in the UK where the FPTP system was born and still applies.
“Nomination of candidates by party headquarters is only justified in List-PR.”
It called on the people to scrutinise the systemic defects of the Port Dickson by-election instead of focusing only on the personalities involved.
“When candidacy selection is top-down and opaque, can allegations of nepotism or cronyism be avoided even if a son, a daughter or an unrelated protege of a prominent leader is qualified to be a candidate in their own right?”