No by-elections are necessary for the Chuping, Bintong and Guar Sanji seats since the state assembly automatically dissolves in two years.
However, Rus’sele said he would write to the Election Commission to ask for by-elections to be held as it was necessary to ensure political stability.
He added that the trio was not sacked from PAS but had their memberships “terminated” for going against the party line. If they were explicitly sacked by PAS, they would have been able to keep their seats under the anti-hopping law.
Saad Seman (Chuping), Fakhrul Anwar Ismail (Bintong) and Ridzuan Hashim (Guar Sanji) allegedly joined five Bersatu assemblymen in submitting statutory declarations to the Raja of Perlis declaring that they had withdrawn support for menteri besar Shukri Ramli.
Pakatan Harapan’s sole Perlis representative, Indera Kayangan assemblyman Gan Ay Ling, is also believed to have submitted a statutory declaration to the ruler.
The PAS trio had their party memberships terminated yesterday, with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang saying their actions went against the Islamic party’s stance.
Perikatan Nasional held 14 of the 15 seats in the Perlis assembly, of which PAS had nine and Bersatu five, while PKR held the remaining one through Gan.
Losing the support of eight assemblymen would have meant Shukri had lost his majority support in the Perlis state assembly. However, the vacating of the three assemblymen’s seats throws the matter into limbo.
As it stands, Shukri would have the support of six PAS assemblymen while Bersatu’s five assemblymen would be in the opposition.
Perlis Pakatan Harapan has backed the existing PN state government to remain till the end of its term for the sake of stability, but it did not explicitly state its support for Shukri.
Rus’sele said the Perlis assembly was essentially hung now, which was why by-elections for the three vacated seats must be held.
However, he acknowledged that the decision ultimately rests with the EC.
The speaker said he had tried to engage assemblymen from both sides to prevent further escalation of this “unprecedented” situation, but their positions remained unchanged.
He also said none of the assemblymen had submitted no-confidence motions against the menteri besar.