SEREMBAN, Wed. - More new electoral boundaries are expected to be
gazetted during the Election Commission's redelineation exercise
to be held in March next year.
This is to enable the "wakil rakyat to serve their constituents
better".
Commission chairman
Datuk Rashid Abdul Rahman said the last exercise carried out in
1994 saw a 8.4 per cent increase in the number of new constituencies
due to developments and increase in the number of population.
"The smaller the
area, the better it will be for the wakil rakyat. We want the State
Assemblymen to serve their constituents better and live up to the
expectations of the people."
He said compiling of
the data to facilitate the exercise by commission officers is in
the final stage.
"In March, we
will start drawing up the areas in the way we are supposed to do.
We hope to complete the exercise in less than two years to enable
us to have ample time to prepare for the next general election,"
he said.
Rashid, who said this
after visiting the State Election Office today, added that the commission
would make recommendations based on the facts of development taking
place in the areas and the number of voters.
The number of registered
voters according to the 1999 verified electoral roll totalled 9.5
million.
The commission would
look at new industrial and housing areas to see if there was an
increase in population that warranted the creation of new constituencies.
Provisions under the Federal Constitution states that a review and
redelineation of election divisions should be conducted every eight
years.
On, the Sarawak State
election, he said "on-the-ground training" of 16.000 returning
officers, assistant returning officers and other support staff would
be completed by next month.
The five-year term
of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly expires on Nov 18.
Meanwhile, Benama reported
that the Election Commission has urged other parties not to make
speculative statements on the electoral boundary redelineation exercise.
Its secretary Datuk
Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said: "Only the commission can issue statements
on the status of the redelineation exercise. "
He was commenting on
a report in an English daily yesterday that Johor would have an
additional 27 seats after the redelineation exercise which is said
to be underway.
According to the report
which quoted a source from the State Umno, Johor would have an additional
18 State and nine Parliamentary seats.
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