The spat between DAP and PAS will not have any effect on the push for local council elections, says PKR deputy president Azmin Ali.

The coalition, Azmin said today, remains committed to the reform of local councils but the matter needs to be discussed further by the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council.

He said this on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli).

"We want to see whether this election of councillors will resolve the problem and we will look at the entire programme of local councils in totality.

“We will discuss the issue in the meeting tomorrow, if it is raised by PAS or DAP," added Azmin, who is also Selangor menteri besar.

He also reiterated Pakatan's strength in having a common policy and that it often holds discussions in the presidential council in order to work by consensus.

“We will continue to discuss openly, in a more conducive environment, in the presidential council and we always work on that basis,” he said.

Nonetheless, when asked about Pakatan not having any leadership council meetings for more than four months, Azmin defended this, saying the parties at the state levels, such as Perak and Selangor, have been meeting on a regular basis.

“I’ve been meeting DAP’s Tony Pua and also PAS’ Iskandar Abdul Samad at the state level on numerous occasions, so that is not the issue but certainly there are some issues needed to be discussed,” he said.  

Azmin said yesterday he wanted the spat between PAS and DAP on local council elections to be resolved at the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council meeting.

Last Friday, Hadi claimed that DAP's push for local council elections in Penang may lead to a repeat of the May 13, 1969 race riots.

This prompted several DAP leaders to fire back at the PAS president, calling his assertion "illogical".