“How is it that we can have federal and state elections without any racial disharmony? So why should local government elections be any different?” Derek Fernandez asked.
He said if polls were responsible for racial discord, then elections at all levels should be banned.
“There are 155 local authorities and like state and federal seats, the coalition system in parties will affect the electability of candidates and balance out any concerns,” he told FMT in a text-message.
Fernandez, who is a lawyer, said there were several different models of local government election systems and this include a proportionate representation model.
He said if one did not allow for the third vote, then it was meaningless to talk about the democratisation of local governments.
Electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 said earlier that refusing to hold local council elections was “a step back” in the efforts to strengthen democracy in Malaysia.
“Local council elections are the bedrock of every democracy,” its chairman Thomas Fann said.
He said the decision announced by Mahathir lacked discussion and debate on the merits of restoring the elections, which were last held in 1964 during the Malaysia-Indonesia Confrontation.
Speaking to reporters after officiating a convention on strengthening local councils, Mahathir said such polls might produce the “wrong results” due to the possible differences between urban and rural demographics.
Urban will be different and rural will be different. There will be conflict, probably emphasised by racial differences. We don’t want that to happen,” he said.
In July, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said her ministry intended to hold local government elections in three years.
She said such elections could only be done after the nation’s finances and economy had stabilised.
Meanwhile, the DAP said it would continue to push for the restoration of local council elections despite the prime minister’s announcement.
Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said bringing back the third vote had always been the party’s stand as it believed local council elections promoted greater democracy.
However, Lim, who is also finance minister, said the government would first focus on fulfilling its election pledges.