KUCHING: PKR Sarawak submitted 11 objections against the Election Commission (EC)’s proposed constituency delineation recommendations to the EC’s office here yesterday.
The objections were submitted by the following branches: Mambong, Simunjan, Sebuyau, Layar, Telang Usan, Marudi, Tebedu, Triboh, Krian and Gedong.
The delegation was led by the party’s vice chairman Ali Biju, who was accompanied by PKR national women vice president Voon Shiak Ni and state leaders Vernon Aji Kedit, Nurhanim Hanna Mokhsen, Jamilah Baharuddin and Steve Teo. Ali, who is also Krian assemblyman, said EC’s recommendations that were published last Jan 5 showed glaring gerrymandering and not proportionate. He cited as examples the case of three state constituencies: Gedong, Simunjan and Sadong Jaya in Batang Sadong parliamentary constituency.
“It is an affront to logic and common sense that these three state constituencies are just an hour’s drive from Kuching and yet the proposed new constituency, Gedong, has 6,340 voters, Sadong Jaya with 6,752 voters, and Simunjan with 7,835 voters.
“These constituencies have electorate of less than the proposed Long Lama, which is highly inaccessible and with an electorate of 8,057,” he told reporters after handing over the objections to the EC. Ali said in the case of the proposed Puncak Borneo parliamentary constituency, Serembu had 9,677 voters, yet Tarat and Mambong had 16,374 and 16,803 voters respectively.
In his constituency, he questioned the rationale behind Krian, a rural constituency, having 11,994 voters while Kalaka had only 7,324 voters.
“So, whatever they say about more weightage for the rural areas, this does not apply to Krian and Kalaka. It is clear from the numerous objections from political parties and citizen groups that the EC had breached Article 114 of the Federal Constitution, and the electors had lost their confidence in the EC.
“The institutional change, overhauling the system, and process of electoral delineation review to ensure free and fair elections is long overdue. We have the blessings of our national party leadership council to mount a forceful campaign to challenge the proposed recommendations by the EC.” He thanked non-governmental organisations such as Tindak Malaysia, Bersih, and Rise of Sarawak Efforts (ROSE) for assisting PKR Sarawak to prepare the objections and proposals that were submitted to the EC.
Meanwhile, as at 2.45pm yesterday, the EC office here had received 56 objections from across the state.