PH parties to submit protests to EC

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government will not be lodging a protest with the Election Commission (EC) over the recent redelineation exercise.

Instead, it has decided component parties within Pakatan Harapan (PH) will lodge their respective protests with the EC.

Today is the last day for submission of objections to the proposed redelineation boundaries.

Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Rashid Hasnon said it was better the individual parties look into their respective areas.

The Penang PKR vice-chairman said one of the concerns his party had was the balance of ethnicities in some constituencies.

He added some seats may be overrepresented by a particular ethnicity, which could lead to increased polarisation.

Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, who sits on the three-member state-created task force to review the redelineation exercise, said there were disparities between the numbers of voters in constituencies.

He cited the Paya Terubong state seat, which had more voters compared to neighbouring Air Putih despite both being under the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency.

He said this was not reflective of “one man, one vote, one value.”

In a report by state government funded think-tank Penang Institute, five constituencies were identified as being under-represented, namely Paya Terubong (41,707 voters), Machang Bubok (32,189), Seberang Jaya (31,253), Batu Maung (31,050) and Batu Uban (29,541).

The report also identified Air Putih (12,752) and Teluk Bahang (13,295) as being overrepresented and recommended Air Putih absorbed voters from nearby Paya Terubong while Teluk Bahang absorbed voters from Tanjung Bungah.