KUALA LUMPUR: The Election Commission (EC)’s redelineation exercise, or electoral boundary changes, is a malapportionment of parliamentary and state constituencies, said Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah.
The recommendations by the EC were drawn up without taking into consideration the land mass of a constituency, which prevents eligible voters from having equitable representation in their constituencies.
“The purpose of redelineation is to make constituencies approximately equal. However, this distortion (by the EC) is actually malapportionment or gerrymandering. Not only does the proposed redelineation not correct the distortion, it also fails to take into account demographic changes and the previous redelineation exercise,” Chin said.
Chin cited the Damansara Federal Constituency, which is currently known as PJ Utara, as an example of a parliamentary seat in Selangor that will get even bigger with the redelineation.
“After redelineation, Damansara voters will spike up to 150,439, compared to Sabak Bernam Federal Constituency, which has 37,126 voters.
“This means that one person’s vote in Sabak Bernam is equivalent to approximately four people’s vote in Damansara. I do not know how the EC can say this is approximately equal. One vote equal to one vote is approximately equal,” she said at a dialogue organised by The Bar Council National Young Lawyers Committee (NYLC) here yesterday.
Chin added that to ensure equal representation, the EC needs to take land masses into consideration.
“Compared to the 2003 redelineation report, this time, we notice that current land mass information is missing from the data provided by the EC,” she said, adding that the land masses of Ampang and Gombak do not match.
“One area is smaller, while another is bigger, and each of these areas still has approximately 90,000 voters. Clearly, the EC has not taken into consideration the land mass,” she said.
Echoing Chin was Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee chairman and Bar Council Environment and Climate Change Committee co-chairman Roger Chan Weng Keng.
Chan said the EC has flouted the law and its current recommendations do not comply with Section 2(c) of Schedule 13 of the Federal Constitution.
“Under these provisions, the number of electors within each constituency in a state ought to be approximately equal, except (when taking into account) the greater difficulty of reaching electors in the country districts, and the other disadvantages facing rural constituencies, a measure of weightage for an area ought to be given to such constituencies,” Chan said.
He said the EC cannot just thrust recommendations to the public without providing any supporting analysis and justification.
“The EC has to call for meetings with the public and organise public awareness programmes to educate the rakyat. They are not government servants; they should be fair and independent. They must command the confidence of the public,” he said.
