KUCHING: The addition of parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak will only be finalised after the 16th General Election (GE16), says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof (pic).
He said this was because several legal aspects needed to be reviewed before the necessary amendments could be done in the Dewan Rakyat.
“It can’t be implemented in time (for GE16). So far, we haven’t set a specific timeline for implementing these additional seats, but we’re allowing time for them (the Attorney General’s Chambers, and the Sabah and Sarawak State Attorney General Chambers) to discuss the legal aspects.
“In the first quarter of next year, we’ll receive reports from the three legal advisers to be presented in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council (MTPMA63) meeting,” he said when met by reporters at the Takaful Goes to the Village Carnival here yesterday.
Fadillah said the Election Commission had completed its study on the matter in Sarawak only, Bernama reported.
The issue of additional parliamentary seats was discussed in the MTPMA63 meeting in September, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The last constituency redelineation exercise involving parliamentary seats was in 2006, and Sabah and Sarawak now hold 25 and 31 seats respectively for a combined 25% of the 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
