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I was reading news reports on the recent “PD Move” when I came across an article, where Bersatu chief strategist Rais Hussin was quoted to have said, “Suddenly everybody wants to say something, wants to be an expert in democracy and define democracy and how it should be”.

Quite clearly, the said chief strategist is in favour of the PD Move and is not too happy with the dissatisfaction shown by some people over this issue.

Well, I am no expert in democracy but let me give you my two cents worth.

From the outset, while by-elections are different from general or national elections for obvious reasons, the former is usually held when a seat becomes vacant in between the latter.

The issue that arises is why had the seat become vacant before the next general elections.

More often than not, there are two reasons for this.

Firstly, unfortunate death, and second, disqualification pursuant to Article 48 of the Federal Constitution.

And then there's a third reason - resignation pursuant to Article 51 of the Federal Constitution, which is what happened to the Port Dickson parliamentary seat yesterday.

Now that the reason has been established, the next question is why that particular MP has chosen to resign?

In the case of Danyal Abdullah, the incumbent Port Dickson MP, it is not due to health reasons, neither is it because he just honestly wants to retire from politics and spend time with his family.

In fact, the MP stated that he wants to continue to work for the people.

So then, as voters, you are now asking yourself: if none of the reasons mentioned above applies, then why do I need to vote again, and why is my MP resigning?

Article 21 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 states:-

“Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

What does “periodic” elections mean? It means exactly that, periodic - not as and when you feel like it.

Subject to the reasons of a seat being vacant as mentioned above, as a voter, I have a reasonable expectation to vote at the next periodic election, not after that period nor before without any justification or proper explanation.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep.

On that note, this Malaysian would like to remind the current elected representatives not to treat their constituents like sheep.

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