Redelineation still a work-in-progress

Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah says he is “seronok” (pleased) that there are so many objections over its recent delineation exercise.

“Do you see me looking worried? I am actually happy there are so many objections. It shows that the public and political parties are paying attention to developments which have to do with elections.

“I had actually expected more than 1,000 objections!” he said.

EC recently carried out its delineation exercise to redraw the boundaries of parliamentary and state seats which it does once in every eight years. Its proposal to alter 128 of the 222 parliamentary seats was met with objections from both Barisan Nasional and opposition political parties as well as a number of municipal councils.

Some said the delineation created more single race seats while reducing the number of mixed seats which goes against the very essence of building harmonious ties between all races, and some argued it created disproportionate-sized constituencies.

The PJ Utara parliamentary seat, for example, which has been renamed Damansara will see the number of voters in the constituency increase to 150,439 from 85,401 which is a 76% increase.

When the deadline for objections ended on Oct 14, EC received a total of 836 objections.

He said the number was “raw” objections.

“We have to throw some of these objections out because they do not meet the stipulated criteria.

For example, there was one objection submitted which did not even touch that person’s constituency. Then there was someone who put in an objection for the delineation of the whole of Malaysia! And there were those who submitted objections with less than 100 names of voters from that constituency.

“We have to reject that because our regulations say there must be a minimum of 100 names.”

Under the EC rules, there are three categories who can submit their objections. These are the state governments, the municipal councils, and a group of 100 voters in a particular constituency.

Mohd Hashim said people assumed that the delineation gave Barisan Nasional an advantage.

“But you’d be surprised. Many objections came from the Barisan Nasional ruled states. Umno too had a number of objections. There were municipal councils who objected and there were some that agreed with it.”

Mohd Hashim said the delineation was only a proposal.

“Don’t speculate or make accusations. We have our basis and formula for making the proposals.”

He, however, declined to disclose what that formula is because he said EC has to go down to the ground, listen to the objections and answer these first.

He said if adjustments have to be made after listening to the objections, EC will redraw the boundaries, then display the adjusted delineation again. Objections are also allowed at the second stage.

And then adjustments are again made based on the objection, and this is then brought to parliament. The redelineation only needs a simple majority in parliament to pass.

Mohd Hashim said it is back to status quo if its final proposal does not get passed in parliament.

Asked if it would be embarrassing for EC if this was rejected, Mohd Hashim said: “No. What is there to be ashamed of? We carried out our duty and it is a proposal. And the MPs got to discuss and debate it. It is up to them whether to accept or reject what we have proposed.”