The Election Commission has denied allegations that its proposal to alter the boundaries of some parliament and state seats ahead of the next general election was done “in the interests of certain parties”.

Its chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah said the EC undertook the electoral redelineation exercise in accordance with the country’s Constitution.

“Allegations that the redelineation is being done for the interests of certain parties are not true.

“The power to approve the proposal falls under the jurisdiction of the Dewan Rakyat and each Member of Parliament can debate it when it is tabled in due course,” Hashim said in a statement.

The EC unveiled an 18-page notice last week which proposed to alter the electoral boundaries of some parliamentary and state seats in all states except Perlis, Labuan and Putrajaya.

Twelve parliamentary and 34 state seats in the peninsula may have a name change while 13 new state seats have been proposed for Sabah.

Article 113(2)(ii) of the Federal Constitution states that a redelineation exercise can only be done eight years after the last process, which was in 2003.

The EC was supposed to do the redelineation in 2011 but it was postponed to make way for the general election in 2013.

Several Barisan Nasional component parties and the Opposition have raised concerns about the proposal.

Commenting on the opposition to the proposal, Hashim said it was too early for the EC to respond because a local inquiry to evaluate objection representations from voters had yet to be conducted.

The EC will hold a local inquiry after Oct 14, at the end of a one-month period to display the proposed redelineated boundaries.

The Barisan Nasional supreme council is expected to discuss the issue on Sept 23 while Umno will do so on Sept 30.

State governments, local authorities and groups of 100 or more registered voters for a particular constituency will be invited to state their objections at the inquiry.

“The recommendations are a suggestion and not final because they need to go through a local inquiry and obtain the approval of the Dewan Rakyat before they can be enforced,” said Hashim.

Hashim also urged that any group which was qualified under the rules to register their objections to do so during the local inquiry, “instead of making baseless allegations against the EC.”

He said the EC welcomed every objection and representation but these must be submitted formally through legal avenues.

In a related development, former EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said the Commission had taken into account the many objections registered by voters during its previous redelineation exercises.

Abdul Rashid, who was EC chairman the last time a redelineation exercise was done – in 2003, said that there were two reasons why an objection was accepted.

One was to keep a kampung or local neighbourhood intact, and the other, to make it easier for an elected representative to serve the constituents.

“There were quite a number of objections which we accepted and agreed with.

“In many cases it involved instances where we had overlooked how our proposal had ‘split’ a village into two neighbouring constituencies, and the people complained that this could affect local ties.

“We try to avoid splitting any neighbourhood so we usually accept and take into account these types of objections,” said Rashid, who was EC chairman from 2000 to 2008.

He said any proposal to form new parliamentary seats would need approval of at least two-thirds, or 148, of the 222 MPs, while the creation of new state seats or to redraw boundaries of existing state of parliament seats will only require a simple majority. 

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by RAZAK AHMAD, MARTIN CARVALHO, ALLISON LAI, JOSEPH KAOS JR, andP. DIVAKARA N

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