Based on findings in the EC’s redelineation report, Wong asked why 59% of parliamentary constituencies, including those in Perlis, Penang and Pahang, had been left out of the exercise.
“The EC stated that the redelineation was done due to demographic and population changes over time, yet it failed to propose any changes to these three states,” Wong said at the headquarters of electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 here.
In its final report, the EC said the number of voters in Penang had increased by 31.6% (659,155 to 867,748) while those in Pahang had gone up by 33.5% (554,321 to 740,023).
“Therefore, keeping the same boundaries will see severe malapportionment in Pahang and Penang,” Wong said.
In total, 96 out of 164 parliamentary constituencies up for possible redelineation, excluding Putrajaya and Labuan, had the same boundaries as when the redelineation exercise started.
No redelineation in 23 years
Wong said voters in Penang and Pahang had been deprived of the right to have their constituencies redelineated, for better representation and local ties.
“As there must be a gap of at least eight years for the next redelineation to happen, voters in Penang and Pahang will effectively be forced to use old constituency maps (based on the 2003 redelineation) for 23 years because of the failure and incompetence of the EC,” Wong said.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had also questioned why the state was left out of the EC’s nationwide constituency redelineation exercise.
Lim said aside from Kepala Batas and Balik Pulau, which saw some changes, there was no redelineation for Penang.
Wong noted that the EC had adopted recommendations that had been ditched after the first round of inquiries, regarding 10 parliamentary constituencies in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Kedah.
“It is as if the EC, after the first round of objection from affected constituencies, heeded these objections and threw the proposal out, but later re-proposed it with a few changes.
“This means that the EC had agreed with the objectors that their first recommendation was ill-planned. Yet, they soon readopted the recommendation,” Wong said.
Critics of Barisan Nasional have said the redelineation exercise will favour the coalition.
The EC submitted its report to the prime minister on March 9 without completing hearings on objections to the changes.