PETALING JAYA: With 60,704 voters, the Negri Sembilan state constituency of Paroi outnumbers Senaling, which has just 9,886, by six times.
In Johor, the Kota Iskandar constituency has 116,415 voters, over five times more than Bukit Naning's 22,594.
Such voter number discrepancies run across many states in the peninsula.
An analysis by The Star found that six Johor state constituencies have more than 100,000 voters, while seven in Negri Sembilan have fewer than 13,500.
The constituency with the most voters in Johor is Kota Iskandar (116,415), followed by Puteri Wangsa (112,804), while those with the fewest are Bukit Naning (22,594) and Tenang (22,613).
In Negri Sembilan, Paroi has the most with 60,704 voters, while Senaling has only 9,886, followed by Seri Menanti (10,045) and Johol (12,313).
The last constituency redelineation in Malaysia was carried out in March 2018. However, electoral boundaries are unlikely to change before the next general election.
Former Malaysian Bar constitutional committee co-chair Andrew Khoo said Article 113(2)(ii) of the Federal Constitution provides for a minimum of eight years between one exercise and the next.
"It does not say you have to do one every eight years," he said, noting that the Constitution uses the term "redelimitation" rather than the more familiar redelineation.
He said there might not be enough time to do this before the next general election, as a review has to be completed within two years of its start.
He said current boundaries are widely seen as flawed, with some rural seats holding more voters than urban ones.
However, Khoo said no party is asking for a neutral exercise.
"They all hope that a new constituency map could end up being more favourable to them.
"An incumbent government might prefer to leave the map unchanged because the existing boundaries delivered its win," he said.
For Khoo, the imbalance in the number of constituents is the bigger concern.
"It is challenging for an MP with 100,000 voters in the constituency to be very responsive," he said.
The pattern holds at Federal level, where The Star recently found 86 of the 222 parliamentary seats had more than 100,000 voters – seven with more than 200,000. Bangi in Selangor has the most with over 300,000.
Constitutional law expert and lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar agreed that the decision to carry out a redelineation rests with the EC.
"The requirement for a review is at the EC's discretion," he said, adding that under Article 113(2) of the Constitution, it is to be conducted as the EC deems necessary.
"Any review, once begun, has to be completed within two years and state and federal reviews have to be conducted together," he said.
He said MPs, civil society groups and voters could make the case for a review.
"Public accountability is an important safeguard, not just for the EC," he said.
The EC has not set out a timeline for redelineation.
