As reported by East Asia Forum on 3 June 2021, a recent survey showed that 51% of the respondents were undecided about who to vote for in the next federal election. Although the next election must be held by September 2023, there have been calls for voting much sooner. Thomas Muller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "51% is a surprisingly high number for a country which has traditionally voted more or less according to ethnic blocs. It should be noted that Prime Minister Muhiyddin Yassin"s Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has not had to stand the test of a public vote yet and it is still unclear when exactly voting can be held. The state of emergency, declared by Malaysia"s king in January 2021, has prevented parliament from meeting and from testing majorities. Given the recent spike in COVID-19 infection numbers, it is unlikely that the election will be held within the next few months. Malaysia"s king has held a series of meetings with government and opposition politicians and presided over a meeting of the Council of Rulers on 16 June (Benar News, 9 June 2021). The Council of Rulers decided to lift the state of emergency and to let federal and state assemblies meet as soon as possible; at the same time, they called for a cooling down of the political temperature (Channel News Asia, 16 June 2021). It remains to be seen what this means for the ruling coalition and if and when national elections will be held." Thomas Muller continues: "It seems that the political rifts between Peninsula and East Malaysia (which have been present from the very beginning of the Federation) are becoming more prominent. The calls for increased autonomy by the states of Sabah and Sarawak (termed "˜state nationalism" in an article in The Diplomat, published on 25 May 2021) affect the two states with the largest Christian population in the country. It is thus very likely that not just state and ethnic, but also religious motives will play a prominent role in the next elections, whenever they will finally be held."