KUCHING: Any delineation exercise proposed by the Election Commission (EC) is not meant for the benefit of political parties.
Datu Takun Sunggah
Pointing this out yesterday, state EC director Datu Takun Sunggah said the commission had never stated there would be nine new state constituencies for the next delineation exercise.
“The statement was ‘EC created nine seats during the 2005 delineation exercise, the coming one can be less or can be more’. Nothing in the statement said nine seats,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He was commenting on remarks by Democratic Action Party (DAP) state chairman Chong Chieng Jen that it was unlikely for Sarawak to get nine new seats unless Parliament had the consent of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) representatives.
Takun said all 222 members of parliament had every right to either endorse or reject the EC’s proposal.
“It’s up to the elected representatives in our parliament to approve or to reject the EC’s proposal, through voting of course.”
He also pointed out that the allocation of seats among parties is not the commission’s concern.
“The (delineation) exercise is basically the requirement of the Federal Constitution. That’s why the EC did it. It’s not for the benefit of any political party,” he stressed.
On Sept 5, Chong issued a statement claiming the EC is planning to create nine new state constituencies in Sarawak.
He had insinuated that the creation of the seats would be for the nine state assemblymen (Aduns) who quit the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) to join Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) and form the United People’s Party (UPP).
“As a matter of principle, such intention in constituency re-delineation is wrong. This is using taxpayers’ money to solve the internal squabble of BN (Barisan Nasional),” he had claimed.
Constituency re-delineation is a process whereby electoral boundaries, both parliamentary and state assemblies, are redrawn.
Such an exercise must take place every eight years and is normal and necessary in any democracy, due to an increase in the number of voters following development, urbanisation and growth.
In 1968, Sarawak had just 24 parliamentary and 48 state constituencies.
At present Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats and 71 state constituencies.