Art Harun: EC to review redelineation exercise
Move will decide whether exercise was conducted fairly, says chairman
THE new EC chairman will review the redelineation process conducted just before GE14 to determine if it was conducted fairly and in accordance with the Federal Constitution.
THE Election Commission (EC) will review the redelineation exercise, which was conducted prior to the 14th General Election to address voter imbalance in constituencies.
Its new chairman, Azhar Azizan Harun, said he would review the process to determine whether it was conducted fairly according to the Federal Constitution.
“What I intend to do is to analyse the redelineation to form an opinion on whether it is fair.
“(It will be done) to see whether it is constitutional and in compliance with the 13th schedule of the Federal Constitution, which has many provisions.
“One of the most glaring provisions in the 13th schedule is that the ratio of voters between one constituency and the other shall be approximately the same.
“This does not (take into factor) logistical or rural (area) issues,” he said at the Breakfast Grille radio show on BFM 89.9 radio station yesterday.
He said the outcome of the review would be studied, adding that if recommendations needed to be made, it would be in the form of a blueprint.
“I would come up with a blueprint on what a fair redelineation would look like, without triggering a (redelineation) exercise or (amending) the Constitution, and inform the government of the outcome.”
Azhar said the socio-economic realities and geographical locations of certain constituencies needed to be considered.
He said having a proper definition of such things was also needed for future redelineation exercises.
“When the definition is unclear, they will simply carve out areas from one constitution and put it in another.
“I am a lawyer. I dislike nonclarity because to me, for order to be preserved, there must be clarity. When there is no clarity, it is open to interpretation.”
Azhar said the law stipulated that the redelineation exercise could only be conducted once every eight years.
However, he said, there were exceptions when there were big increases or decreases in the electoral roll, which necessitated a redelineation of parliamentary and state legislative assembly seats.
“For that to happen, the Constitution needs to be amended, and for this to happen, it needs a twothirds majority (in Parliament).
“For now, we are stuck with the redelineation that was passed by Parliament prior to the general election this year.”
In March, the then Barisan Nasional government approved a redelineation exercise, which was criticised by the then opposition as gerrymandering.
The exercise retained the 222seat composition in Parliament, but critics said some boundaries were redrawn to pack voters, deemed to be a lost cause for BN, into certain constituencies.
It also created “supersized” constituencies that were regarded as Pakatan Harapan strongholds.
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) executive director Yap Swee Seng said the commission’s move to review the redelineation exercise was timely.
He said the redelineation, which was passed in Parliament two months prior to the May 9 general election, underwent a flawed and questionable process.
He said Bersih 2.0 found that there might be elements of malapportionment in the redelineation and gerrymandering, which undermined the principle of “one person, one vote”.
“The redelineation process, which began in 2016 until 2018, was full of flaws and some of them might have even been illegal.
“Therefore, a review by EC is needed as we cannot and should not continue to use this flawed redelineation to conduct by-elections, state elections and general elections in the coming years,” he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Yap urged EC to conduct the review in an open, transparent and fair manner by engaging all stakeholders, especially voters.
“The review will affect votes in the 15th General Election.
“Voters will have a better representation if the redelineation is carried out fairly and flaws are corrected.”