KUALA LUMPUR: The redelineation of electoral boundaries has already begun in Sarawak, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh said the exercise would be carried out in Sabah in 2025, and peninsular states in 2026.
“The process will involve the Election Commission (EC) conducting a study over a period of two years.
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“Following this, a report of the findings will be presented to the Prime Minister,” he said in Parliament on Wednesday (Nov 8).
Ramkarpal said factors to be taken into account during the study include the proportionality of voters in each constituency.
“For example, there are about 300,000 voters in the Bangi constituency, while Putrajaya has between 30,000 and 40,000 eligible voters.
“All this will be taken into consideration during the study,” he said in response to a supplementary question by V. Ganabatirau (PH-Klang), who asked about the need for a redelineation exercise.
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Ganabatirau had cited some constituencies with between 250,000 and 300,000 voters while there were constituencies with fewer than 50,000.
"I hope the government can conduct a redelineation exercise to (uphold) democracy,” he added.
Redelineation is a constitutional process in delimiting electoral boundaries to ensure electors receive fair representation in their voting preferences.
The last redelineation exercise was in 2017, before the 14th General Election (GE14) the following year.
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Earlier, Ramkarpal said the lower voter turnout percentage in GE15 was due to the expansion of the electoral roll through automatic voter registration for those aged 18 and above.
GE15 recorded a 74.7% voter turnout while GE14 saw 82.3% voter turnout and GE13, 84.8%.
“Despite this, EC records show the number of eligible voters who voted (in GE15) was actually higher than in previous general elections,” he said in reply to Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau).
Shahidan had questioned the declining trend in voter turnout from GE13 to GE15.
