Datuk Takun Sunggah
KUCHING: The study on the delineation exercise has been completed but the Election Commission (EC) has yet to put forth the proposal for public display.
Debunking a news report which had created some confusion, state EC director Datuk Takun Sunggah said the part of the news that EC’s delineation proposal for Sarawak had passed the stage of public display was not correct.
“EC needs to gazette the notice to say that EC would start the exercise. This notice needs to be published in local newspapers first before public display can be carried out. So far, there is no notice that has been gazetted,” Takun told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He, however, confirmed that the study on delineation of state constituencies which involved the addition of 11 new seats had been completed.
The whole process of increasing state constituencies should start with the State Legislative Assembly passing a bill to amend the composition of the State Constitution which the assembly had already carried out in its November sitting.
Only after the passing of the State Assembly (Composition of Membership) Bill 2014, will EC commence a study on the constituencies to be delineated before coming up with a proposal.
EC will then gazette a notice that it will start the exercise and make the notice known to the public by publishing it in local newspapers.
After that, the proposal will be publicly displayed at the district offices, during which the state government, the local authorities (local councils) and 100 voters of the affected constituencies may give their inputs, views or raise their objections.
After the one-month display, another month of hearing will follow, during which anyone from the above-mentioned three groups objecting to it may come forth to have dialogues with the EC.
The EC, after looking into the representations submitted and dialogues conducted, will come up with a revised recommendation on the delineation exercise.
The revised recommendation, when ready, will have to go for another month of public display, again in the District Office, to be followed by another month of hearing.
After the second public display and hearing, EC will finalise the recommendations and submit the report to the prime minister who will table it for the approval of Parliament.
It would take the support of half the members of Parliament to give the delineation proposal a go before it is presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agung for endorsement.