EC: No plans to conduct redelineation for now

PUTRAJAYA (Jan 1): The Election Commission (EC) has no plans to carry out a redelineation of electoral boundaries for states in the peninsula and Sabah as the eight-year interval period is still ongoing.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Salleh said for Sarawak, the commission was considering and evaluating the suitability of conducting such an exercise.

He said a redelineation exercise could only be carried out after the expiration of the eight-year interval period from the date of completion of the previous exercise, or when there are amendments to the composition of members of the Dewan Rakyat or state legislative assemblies.

“The last redelineation exercise for the states of Malaya was completed in 2018, while for Sarawak and Sabah, it was done in 2015 and 2017, respectively,” he said in a statement today.

Abdul Ghani said that any redelineation proposal would only commence upon notification to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker and the Prime Minister by the EC and a notice published as provided under Part II, Section 4, Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

He said that under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution, the EC shall, from time to time, as they deem necessary, review the division of the Federation and the States into constituencies based on principles and procedures established by the Federal Constitution.

The principles include facilitating all voters to cast their votes during the election and that electoral boundaries do not cross state borders; taking into account administrative facilities available within the constituencies to establish necessary machinery for registration and polling.

“Also, the number of voters is more or less the same for each constituency in a state except when there are communication difficulties or other challenges faced by rural constituencies, during which the area of constituencies should be considered; and maintaining local ties,” he said. – Bernama