What’s the difference between General Election & state elections?

With state elections lurking just around the corner, some of y’all are probably making plans to go back to your constituency to do your civic duty. At the same time, you might be wondering, “We voted last year already, why now we have to vote again ah?”

To put it simply, we’re voting for different things in two different elections, specifically…

General Election = fate of the country, state elections = fate of the state

So, remember how y’all voted for Member of Parliaments (MPs) during GE15? For the upcoming state elections, y’all will be voting for state assemblypersons (ADUN). And while those two roles are obviously different, they’re really not that different at first glance.

First off, MPs attend for Parliament sessions to debate, discuss, pass, and change laws that affect the whole country. Assemblypersons do the same thing, except the laws that they deal with concern their respective states. Aside from that, MPs from opposition parties serve to keep their counterparts from the ruling parties in check. That goes for assemblypersons as well – opposition ADUNs are also there to prevent ruling ADUNs from abusing their power.

TL;DR: MPs represent you at the federal level, and state assemblyperson represent you at the state level.

And just in case you think that state polls don’t make a difference, they do. The biggest one is probably the fact that state assemblies have a great impact on how your municipal councils – your Majlis Daerah, Majlis Perbandaran, and Majilis Bandaraya – are run, and for most people, that’s one of the main reasons they even vote at all.

But why now? Why weren’t state elections held right after GE15 last year?

Politicians wanted to wait until the floodings subsided in certain states

Back in October and November 2022, several states were hit by flash floods cuz it was monsoon season, so Anwar came out and said that Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan will only have their state polls after the floods subsided.

“These three states have decided to concentrate on facing the floods and alleviating the burden of flood victims,” Anwar Ibrahim told reporters after a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting

We couldn’t find reports of any politician from Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu saying the same thing, but since those states were also affected by floods, it’s safe to assume that their state polls were delayed for the same reason. On top of that, Penang DAP expressed concerns about people having to travel outstation twice in quick succession – once for GE15, and another for state elections.

And that’s pretty much it. For those of y’all who have to balik kampung for the state elections next week, travel safe, and have a good one.