PAS assembly okays constitutional change to add anti-hopping provision

PAS MUKTAMAR | PAS has become the latest political party to include anti-hopping provisions in its constitution.

This comes after some 1,300 PAS delegates to the party’s annual muktamar in Temerloh, Pahang approved a motion tabled by the party’s central leadership on the matter earlier this evening.

“Support!” said the delegates during a voting session, where they also approved several other amendments to the PAS constitution.

Party secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan when tabling the suggestion earlier said the provision will effectively cause any PAS MP or state assembly member to automatically lose their party membership if they go against party decisions.

These include joining or throwing support behind another political party that is not sanctioned by PAS.

Those who decide to become independent also automatically lose their membership, he added.

“Thus, when they cease to be a PAS member, the Federal Constitution stipulates that their seats must be vacated,” he said.

According to Takiyuddin, the party leadership decided to make the move as every other party has already adopted such a provision in their respective constitutions to be in line with Article 49A of the Federal Constitution.

Anti-party hopping legislation was introduced into the Federal Constitution in 2022 via a bill passed by the Dewan Rakyat.

Following this, many political parties have since made the move to amend their respective party laws to effectively prevent their representatives from going against their party positions.

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