KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — Putrajaya will not reintroduce local council elections due to concerns of possible communal strife between rural and urban areas, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir asserted that the so-called third vote may produce the “wrong results” that would create divisions between cities and less developed parts of the country.

“The urban may be different, the rural may be different... there will be conflicts emphasised by racial differences and the like.

“So we don’t want that to happen. No council elections,” he was quoted as saying by The Star Online portal.

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The prime minister was speaking at the launch of the Housing and Local Government Ministry’s Local Council Convention here.

Previously, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the third vote could be reintroduced inside of three years.

Pakatan Harapan had, when it was still in Opposition, sought to reintroduce local council elections in Malaysia, with the Penang government filing a lawsuit in 2013 seeking to affirm that the state was empowered to conduct the polls.

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However, the Federal Court subsequently ruled that the state may not conduct the polls expressly prohibited by the Local Government Act 1976.

Local council elections, popularly known as the third vote, were last held in Malaysia back in 1963.

The elections scheduled to be held in 1964 and 1965 were suspended because of Indonesia’s confrontation with Malaysia.

In 1976, local elections were scrapped when Parliament passed the Local Government Act that only provided for appointed councillors to fill the posts.

Since the May 9 general election, various political parties and non-governmental organisations have said that it was now feasible to restore local council elections.