KOTA KINABALU, Oct 16 — Voters must still elect their federal lawmakers in the 15th general elections even if their states were not holding concurrent polls, electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 clarified.

With potentially as few as two states dissolving their assemblies along with Parliament, there has been confusion over whether voters would still need to cast their ballots if they were registered to vote in states that were not electing assemblymen.

Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann explained that a general election meant voting was still necessary regardless of whether it would only be for parliamentarians or for both state and federal lawmakers.

"This just means voters in those state will only vote for their MPs, not [assemblymen]. They would still need to come out and vote for the federal parliament seats this time and vote again next year for the state seats,” he explained.

He said the key difference on polling day would be that voters in states without concurrent state polls would only get one ballot to elect their member of parliament; with concurrent polls, they would also get a second ballot to select their state assemblyman.

He said prior to GE14, it had been common for almost all states except Sarawak to hold their state elections simultaneously with the general election.

"But since then, several states have held separate state elections, namely Sabah, Melaka, Johor and Sarawak, while some state non-BN controlled states have said that they won’t be dissolving their state assemblies and would go full-term which is for most, mid-2023,” he said.

On Monday, caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the dissolution of Parliament but said that Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka, and Johor would not have to dissolve their respective assemblies, having already held their state elections no more than two years ago.

Then, Pakatan Harapan also took Selangor and Negri Sembilan out of the running, saying that an election now would coincide with the severe floods from the annual year-end monsoon.

Islamist party PAS also confirmed that it also would not dissolve the legislative assemblies of Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu, effectively removing another three states from the equation.

This leaves only three other states under BN rule — Pahang, Perlis and Perak. This would mean an unprecedented three state polls concurrently with the general election, while six will have to be had next year.

So far, only Pahang and Perlis have dissolved their state assemblies to pave way for state elections while and Perak remains uncertain.