Pakatan still on the fence over EC’s seat-redrawing proposal

Pakatan Rakyat has not decided whether to endorse the Election Commission's (EC) proposal to increase parliamentary seats as part of the upcoming boundary redelineation exercise.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke (pic) said the opposition pact – comprising PKR, PAS and his party – had yet to decide on the matter.

"We want to look at EC's proposal first before making any decision. But I have stressed in my parliamentary debate last week that we will not agree to any additional seats being created if the EC does not adhere to the 1 man, 1 vote and 1 value principle," said the Seremban MP at the parliament lobby today.

Last week, former Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan called on all political parties not to be taken in by the promises of the EC to hold a fair redelineation of electoral boundaries.

She had said history showed that the EC's word was not to be fully believed and urged, especially opposition parties, not to be fooled by the commission.

‎"I am shocked that the opposition parties believe them (EC), that they are fair in increasing seats. What reason have they shown for us to believe them? On what basis are they (the opposition) allowing the delineation to carry on. The electoral roll has not been cleaned up‎," she said.

The equal legislative representation or one man one vote concept was recommended by the Parliamentary Select Committee of Electoral Reform in 2012 and touted by Pakatan parties and electoral reform groups as a fairer representation of voters compared with the current system.

Loke today assured NGOs such as Bersih 2.0 and Tindak Malaysia of Pakatan's commitment to defend the interest of Malaysians and would not allow rival Barisan Nasional to increase seats at its "whims and fancies".

"DAP will oppose any EC proposal if the upcoming redelineation exercise shows any signs of unfairness or leaned towards BN's interests," he said.

Without revealing his source, he claimed to receive information that EC planned to split the Rembau constituency in Negri Sembilan into two despite the fact that the federal seat only has about 80,000 voters.

The Rembau seat is currently held by Umno's Youth and Sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Loke said Rembau is among numerous Umno strongholds that the EC planned to split into two to strengthen the ruling Malay party’s position in the political landscape.

"I hope I am wrong, I don't wish this to be true and if this is a trend, then the extra seats will be advantageous to Umno," he added.

The redelineation exercise is long overdue as the last one was in March 2003. It was supposed to be done in 2011, but was deferred due the 13th general election last year.

The boundary redelineation process had been regarded by the opposition and civil society groups as a primary tool in Barisan Nasional's manipulation of the electoral process, where gerrymandering and malapportionment had been linked to the EC.

They said this had led to one rural vote being worth six urban votes in last year’s May 5 national polls that BN won despite losing the popular vote to Pakatan Rakyat.

However, the EC said the exercise was needed to balance out parliamentary areas to ensure they did not burden the MPs.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof had said the EC was expected to gazette the notice for the redelineation exercise by the end of this year.

It had previously said it was looking at increasing federal seats by about 15% to 20% in its redelienation exercise, with new seats carved out in Selangor, Johor, Perak, Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu.

In an interview with English daily The Star in February this year, Aziz said it was looking to split seats in Selangor, Perak and Johor where there were more than 70,000 voters.

"We got feedback from elected representatives that it was too difficult to service their voters when their constituency is too big, and we heard from voters that it is difficult for them to get to see their representatives. So we must do something," he was quoted as saying. – November 12, 2014.