KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's Democratic Action Party (DAP) said on Saturday (July 8) it will not hold fresh elections for its central executive committee (CEC) until it meets with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

The opposition party's statement came after the ROS said on Friday that the DAP must hold fresh elections for its CEC, adding that it would issue a directive to the party on the matter.

The ROS had said it was issuing the directive after some DAP members expressed unhappiness over the CEC's re-election process which was held on Sept 29, 2013.

In a statement after a two-hour meeting on Saturday, the CEC said that the "question of a fresh re-election does not arise."

"The DAP will seek a meeting with the ROS as soon as we receive the letter from the ROS to obtain clarification in respect of the decision as set out in their press statement," said secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who read out the statement at a press conference.

"DAP firmly assert that the re-election had already been called in accordance with their directive in their letter dated July 30, 2013. Therefore the question of a fresh re-election does not arise." "Nevertheless, we are prepared to meet the RoS to discuss the matter further," Lim added.

ROS director-general Datuk Mohammad Razin Abdullah had on Friday said that the ROS had no intention of deregistering the party, but it had to hold new elections for its CEC.

He said ROS will be issuing a directive to the DAP to hold the fresh elections for its 20 legal and authorised CEC members.

DAP said it was shocked at the ROS statement that the CEC re-election in 2013 was invalid, adding that the move jeopardised its preparation for the upcoming general election.

"Making this statement four years later is intended to cripple our party's administration and jeopardises our preparation for GE14. We have yet to receive an official letter from the ROS conveying their decision to us."

"We are mystified by the premise of the RoS directing us to hold fresh re-election as stated in their media statement yesterday," the statement said.

"The DAP had already conducted a re-election of its CEC members on Sept 29, 2013 according to the directive of the RoS pursuant to their letter dated July 30, 2013. The result of the re-election was communicated to the RoS on Nov 8, 2013 pursuant to the provision of our Constitution and Societies Act 1966.

"It is clear from the report that we used the 2012 party delegates list which involved 2,576 qualified delegates," the CEC said in the statement.