Pejuang says no to Melaka state polls for now

KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) will not take part in the upcoming Melaka state election on Nov 20 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, says its information chief Ulya Husamudin.

"We don't want the spike (of Covid-19 cases) in Sabah last year to happen again," he said on Monday (Oct 18).

Ulya said Pejuang would only consider contesting in the upcoming state election if the Election Commission (EC) can come up with clearer standard operating procedures (SOP) such as having no physical campaigning.

"If it can ensure digital campaigns and no physical campaigns, then we will consider.

"For the time being, we (will) listen to the voices of the people and disagree with the state election," he added.

The Sabah state election in September last year triggered a fresh wave of Covid-19 infections that lasted several months and daily figures peaked to more than 20,000 infections per day.

On Monday, Malaysia recorded 5,434 new cases, the first time daily figures dropped below 6,000 since June 28 this year, when 5,218 cases were recorded.

Earlier in the day, the EC had set Nov 8 for nomination day and Nov 20 for polling in the Melaka state election, which is being held following the dissolution of the legislative assembly on Oct 5 by Governor Tun Mohd Ali Rustam.

The dissolution came about after four assemblymen declared that they had lost confidence in the leadership of Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali as chief minister.