In a Facebook post, the former prime minister said this would warrant an immediate disqualification for the elected representative and a by-election will be held in the constituency.

He said that while parties with the most “frogs” wanted an anti-hopping law to be implemented immediately, perhaps worried that more “frogs” would jump again, banning MPs from moving to another party after winning in an election was not the solution.

“A recall election will be fairer to the original party and to voters,” he said.

Najib said it would be worse if there were MPs who were interested to join other parties but were forced to stay put because the law does not allow them to change parties.

“More problems will be triggered if they were stuck in their original party,” he said.

Yesterday, former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said said one way of preventing elected representatives from defecting to another party was to hold recall elections under the proposed anti-hopping law.

In a frequently asked questions (FAQ) sheet on the proposed law, she said recall elections would allow voters to revoke their mandate given to an elected representative if he or she decided to switch parties.

The Pengerang MP explained that polling could be held in the affected area for the people to choose a new representative, if they want.