EC to review redelineation of electoral boundaries approved last year

The Election Commission (EC) is studying the redelineation of the electoral boundaries approved by the Dewan Rakyat last year to see if it was implemented fairly and within the law.

EC chairperson Azhar Azizan Harun said it would also analyse the effects of the redelineation on aspects like the economy, racial diversity and voting trends.

“We only want to see if Parliament can decide to nullify what has been decided and if it can amend or not, because if we go by the Federal Constitution, it cannot, because it (the re-delineation of electoral boundaries) can only be done once in eight years.

“That is why we are looking at it, we are studying the content, if it was fair or not, and then we will submit proposals to the Parliament,” he said after participating as a panelist in the ‘Report on the Round Table Discussion on the General Election Reformations’ programme at Parliament today.

In March last year, the Dewan Rakyat approved the motion for the redelineation of electoral boundaries, with 129 Members of Parliament supporting and 80 opposing, following the bloc voting process.

Based on a report on the redelineation of electoral boundaries, the names of 12 parliamentary and 12 state legislative assembly constituencies were changed.

Azhar added that the EC would also look into the question of political funding and a study was being conducted into it.

On e-voting, he said the EC was looking at two modes of voting, which are online voting and using the electronic polling machine which requires the voter to be present at the polling centre.

“The electronic polling machine is seen as safer because it does not rely on the internet, so there is no possibility of it being hacked. But we have to ensure that the software that is used does not include any data that could change the polling data,” he said, adding that no decision had yet been made on this.

-- Bernama