Provincial Councils and local Government Minister Faizer Mustapha has made several recommendations to the Elections Commission Chairman regarding the problem which has arisen in selecting elected representatives to local government institutions due to the mandatory women representation introduced by the Local Government Elections Amendment Act.
The Minister observed that the Amendments were introduced by incorporating recommendations made by the Elections Commission and the Elections Department and if any problem had arisen, it is recommended that future decisions should be made after consulting the Attorney General.
Since there are legal problems in amending the Local Government Act with retrospective effect to include the 2018 local government election, any practical problems arising in relation to the selection of elected members can only be corrected in a future local government election.
When taking these factors to account, the election results should be announced based on the existing law, and the beginning of the period of office of the newly elected members could not be decided until the related results are announced, it has been observed.
The Minister has pointed out that even when the total number of members have not been properly appointed to a council, the main local government Institution laws have made provisions to constitute a council on a date specified by the Minister to begin its term through a gazette notification.
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