Negri Sembilan Dewan dissolves today, next Pahang and Johore

Come Wednesday night (March 26, 2013), the Negri Sembilan legislative assembly is set to be the first state assembly to be automatically dissolved following the lapse of its five-year tenure since the historic 2008 general election.

This was stated by Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan, who informed that the 36-member assembly would continue to serve in a caretaker capacity until election is called.

He told English daily The Star that its members would, however, not be able to introduce new policies and will cease to function as “wakil rakyat” (the people’s representatives).

“There has to be a caretaker government because we will have to pay wages and look into other matters during the period...without a caretaker government, there will be anarchy," he was quoted as saying.

However, the Election Commission (EC) has stated that the Negri Sembilan assembly speaker must write in to the EC on the 27th to inform them of the dissolution, if no announcement is made by tomorrow.

“The speaker will write a letter to the EC to inform of the dissolution of the Negri Sembilan assembly. The EC, on the other hand, will have 60 days to call for an election,” chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof (right) told Malaysiakini.

This comes as the members of the Negri Sembilan assembly were sworn in on March 27, 2008, although they had their first sitting only on April 25, that year.

Of the 36 state seats, 21 are held by BN representatives, while of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, DAP holds 10 seats, PKR four, and PAS one.

Wednesday’s dissolution will be followed by the Pahang assembly on April 6, while the Terengganu and Kedah assemblies would be the last on May 4, unless Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak dissolves Parliament beforehand.

The term of the ruling federal government officially ends on April 28 and the general election must be called within 60 days from that date.