Redelineation exercise unhealthy, says analyst

POLITICAL analyst Tang Ah Chai said under the proposed redelineation of constituencies, the Opposition can still maintain its edge in Chinese-majority and urban seats but will have problems extending its influence beyond these areas.

He said one noticeable point of the exercise is the increase in the number of voters in most of the constituencies affected, particularly urban and Chinesemajority seats, some of which have more than 100,000 voters.

“This is very unhealthy,” Tang was quoted by China Press as saying in a report yesterday.

He opined that the redelineation exercise should result in a drop, not increase, in the electorate size of large constituencies.

This is because an elected representative for a constituency with 100,000 voters will have a lot more people to serve compared with a representative from a smaller seat, say with 30,000 voters, he pointed out.

It is not only a matter of big differences in the number of voters, it also involves the workload of elected representatives, he stressed, adding that this old problem has not been addressed in the redelineation exercise.

Meanwhile, Oriental Daily News reported that MCA stands a good chance to perform better in the next general election although it will face tougher battles in a number of constituencies following the redelineation exercise.