Election Commission violates the redelineation principle it had adhered to for 44 years that the state in Peninsular Malaysia  with the largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats – by which principle Selangor should have 27 or 10 new parliamentary seats

(Penang, Tuesday): If the claim by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on Sunday that the Election Commission's electoral constituency  redelineation exercise is fair based on the distribution of the population is true, and  the redelineation has been carried without any political agenda, then Selangor should have 10 additional seats and have the largest  number of 27 Parliamentary seats and not Johore. 

Under the draft redelineation proposals  announced by the Election Commission on 8^th August,  Johore with 1,223,532 registered voters is allocated 26 Parliamentary seats, the most number of parliamentary seats for any state in Peninsular Malaysia, which violates the principle observed by the Election Commission in all previous redelineation exercises that the state in Peninsular Malaysia  with the most number of registered voters leads in having the most number of parliamentary seats. 

In the 1993 redelineation exercise for instance, Perak  leads with the most number of 1,045,535 registered voters followed by Johore taking second place with 982,484 voters and Selangor in third place with 949,317 voters, with each allocated 23,  20 and 17 parliamentary seats respectively. 

What is the rationale for the Election Commission proposing a six-seat increase for Johore when it has a 24.53% increasse of registered voters from 982,484 in  the previous redelineation exercise in 1993 to 1,223,532 in 2002, when Selangor, which now  has more voters with 1,368,693 is allocated five seats when there is a 44.18% increase of registered voters  in the state from 949,317 in 1993? 

If with 24.53% increase of registered voters from the previous redelineation exercise in 1993, Johore is allocated a 30% increase of its parliamentary seats from 20 in 1993 to 26 as currently proposed, then Selangor with a 44.18% increase in registered voters should have a 60% increase in its parliamentary seats – or an increase of another 10 seats instead of the proposed five. 

This will give Selangor a total of 27 parliamentary seats for its 1,368,693 voters, a seat more than the 26 now proposed for Johore with its 1,223,532 voters  – which would be in accordance with the redelineation principle followed by the Election Commission in the past 44 years that the Peninsular state with the most largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats. 

Can the Election Commission explain why in the 2002 redelineation exercise, it has violated the redelineation principle it had adhered to for the past 44 years  that the state in Peninsular Malaysia  with the largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats – by which principle Selangor should have 27 or 10 new parliamentary seats? 

The answer seems quite simple.  The 2002 redelineation exercise has an underlying political agenda – to shore up the Barisan Nasional to enable it to retain the parliamentary two-thirds majority in the next general election. 

Giving 10 new parliamentary seats to Selangor is quite dicey politically, as in the 1999 general election, Barisan Nasional only secured 53.84% of the total votes cast, losing six State Assembly seats to the Opposition; while  giving six new parliamentary seats to Johore is regarded as a “sure bet” for the Barisan Nasional as Johore is regarded as its “fortress”, with Barisan Nasional securing 71% of the votes cast in the state, sweeping all the 20 Parliamentary and 40 State Assembly seats in the state. 

If so, the 2002 redelineation exercise  is most unfair, undemocratic, violates the principle of one-man one-vote, and fatally flawed as being motivated by the extraneous and even unconstitutional consideration to shore  up the Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds parliamentary majority and political hegemony in the next general election. 

I am prepared to be proved wrong and await the Election Commission’s justification for violating the long-held redelineation principle that the state in Peninsular Malaysia with the largest number of registered voters is allocated the most number of parliamentary seats and why Selangor is not given another 10 seats to have the largest number of  27 parliamentary seats when it has more registered voters than Johore. 

Similarly, the Election Commission has still to give coherent and convincing reasons and the redelineation principles  used to justify as to why there is no increase of any parliamentary seat for the four states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu – apart from Barisan Nasional’s electoral weakness in these four states. 

The failure to give a single new parliamentary seat to the four states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu is another violation by the Election Commission’s  long-held redelineation principles. 

In these four states, the increase of registered voters since the last redelineation exercise in 1993 were 21.76% for Terengganu, 17.4% for Kedah, 16.2% for Kelantan and 12 % for Perlis. 

If these four states are not given increased parliamentary seats  with such increase of registered voters,  why were the other states (where Barisan Nasional feels stronger) given new seat increases?  Perak with 8.12% increase of registered is given one new parliamentary seat, Penang with 14.58% increase given two-seat increase, Pahang with 21.39% increase three new seats, and Negri Sembilan and Malacca one new seat each with 20.04% and 23% increase of new voters respectively.

(13/8/2002)