A study will be conducted to see if guidelines are needed to govern the conduct of a caretaker government following the dissolution of Parliament for future polls, said Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.(pic)
“We are moving towards that and the Attorney-General's Chambers would be looking at guidelines to govern the conduct of a caretaker government,” the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department told reporters after signing an agreement between Malaysia and the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation yesterday.
At present, he said the conduct of a caretaker government is based on convention and past practices as opposed to fixed guidelines.
However, Nazri, who is in charge of law and parliamentary affairs, said that a caretaker government did not have the capacity to introduce policies and enter into or conclude agreements on behalf of the country.
“The caretaker government can continue (implementing) existing commitments but it cannot enter into new ones,” he said.
As for the automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly at midnight today, Nazri said this would not affect the administration of the state as there would be a caretaker government in place.
He said the automatic dissolution of the NS assembly would not affect federal polls even if the GE is not called before April 28 - the last date for the automatic dissolution of Parliament.
He said that the Election Commission will synchronise the dates for both the Federal and state elections following Parliament's dissolution.
“Once Parliament is dissolved, the Federal Government has 60 days, just as Negri Sembilan has got 60 days.
“The EC will rationalise the election dates so that state elections can be held concurrently ,” said Nazri.
He rubbished Pakatan Rakyat's leaders' claims that Barisan Nasional was holding off the polls because of jitters, adding that it was the Opposition that was fearful of losing support.
