KOTA BARU: Kelantan Speaker Datuk Seri Mohd Amar Abdullah says his decision to declare the N43 Nenggiri seat as vacant is fully compliant with the Anti-Party Hopping Law 2022 and amendments to the state constitution.
Amar said the amended state constitution came into force in November 2022, which was the same year the anti-hopping law was approved in Parliament.
"There is no issue that we (Kelantan assembly) are being unconstitutional or hasty in making the decision (to declare the Nenggiri seat vacant) as this issue has been raised outside the assembly and directly to me as the speaker.
"I have received the notice about Mohd Azizi Abu Naim being stripped of his membership from Bersatu and need to inform the Election Commission about the vacancy in 21 days," he said.
Amar, who is Pas vice-president, said he decided to declare the Nenggiri seat vacant on June 19, seven days after receiving Azizi's termination notice from the Bersatu secretary-general on June 13.
"What l want to stress here is that the wording of Kelantan's amendments in its constitution for the Anti-Party Hopping Law is the same as those in the Federal level, and we, in Kelantan, did not change the law. We just amend it," he added.
In March last year, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said seven states had enforced the anti-party hopping law.
They were Selangor, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Kelantan and Sarawak.
"Constitution (Amendment) (No.3) 2022, which prohibits members of the Dewan Rakyat to switch parties was gazetted on Sept 6, 2022, and came into force on Oct 5, 2022.
"Section 6 of the Act provides an avenue for state governments or state legislative assemblies to implement party-hopping prohibition on elected representatives through amendments to the state constitution, subject to consent of the ruler or Yang Dipertua Negeri," she said.
On Wednesday, Amar declared the Nenggiri state seat vacant, paving the way for a possible by-election in Kelantan.