amendments to pass muster in Parliament. The column also quoted a government ministry as saying that "holding elections are expensive affairs". As of 2008, the Pakatan Rakyat states' governments would like to implement the local government election in their states. However, these was not carried out due to the Federal Constitution which prohibits the implementation. It was only after Pakatan Harapan won the 2018 Malaysian general election that the new government began the process of looking into and reintroducing local elections after 55 years, with a trial run slated for 2019 in select cities. By-elections In addition to general elections, a by-election occurs when a particular seat in the Dewan Rakyat becomes vacant. Such a vacancy can occur when, a member of parliament (MP) dies, and an MP is disqualified from being a member of the Dewan Rakyat; a seat is declared vacant because the MP has been absent from every sitting of the Dewan Rakyat for a period of six month months without leave of the Dewan Rakyat, and the members of the Dewan Rakyat have decided to declare the seat vacant. The exception is if the vacancy occurs when the tenure for the current Parliament or state assembly is less than two years, where the seat is simply left vacant until the next general election. Electoral district boundaries It is the role of the Election Commission to draw, review and re-delineate electoral district boundaries. The last delineation was made on 21 March 2003. As of 2013, there are a total of 222 parliamentary districts and 576 state assembly districts in Malaysia. The EC has been accused of practising gerrymandering during delineation exercises. Under Article 113 of the Constitution of Malaysia, the EC may conduct a review and recommend changes to electoral boundaries at an interval of not less than 8 years from the last review and delineation. Election process Elections are supervised by a seven-member Election Commission. Its members are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong following the advice of the Prime Minister. Nomination process Nomination centres are set up in various locations by the Election Commission to allow candidates to register themselves. Typically any Malaysian citizen may register as a candidate unless disqualified. Candidates file the appropriate forms and place a monetary deposit. The deposit was RM5000 to contest a parliamentary seat, or RM3000 to contest a state assembly seat. This amount was changed to RM 10,000