In a statement, EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh said that such exercises can only be done once every eight years, or if the composition and numbers of the state assembly have been amended.
“The latest redelineation exercise for peninsular Malaysia was in 2018, whereas for Sarawak and Sabah, it was carried out in 2015 and 2017, respectively,” he added.
Commenting on this, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president Abang Johari Openg said they will present recommendations to the EC regarding the redelineation exercise.
He said the party has a special committee responsible for overseeing redelineation issues.
“For now, the matter (redelineation) is still under study. We will only make recommendations because the final decision lies with the EC,” Abang Johari, who is also Sarawak premier, told reporters after visiting Dataran Ibu Pertiwi in Kuching today.
Ghani’s statement follows talk of impending redelineation in the state, with election watchdog Tindak Malaysia saying that Sarawak’s constituencies are currently “grossly malapportioned” due to gerrymandering, citing the imbalance in the number of voters in several areas.
A Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) MP, who wished to remain unnamed, had also recently claimed that Sarawak would get 12 more parliamentary seats after the next exercise.
“At the moment, Sabah and Sarawak’s parliamentary seats amount to less than two-thirds of the Dewan Rakyat,” the MP had reportedly said, on the back of calls by East Malaysian politicians for the two states to get one-third of parliamentary seats, in line with their equal partner status under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
The MP also said that the EC was studying Sarawak’s need for a new redelineation exercise.
According to Ghani, such an exercise would only commence once the EC notifies the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat and the prime minister, and a notice has been published as provided for under the Federal Constitution.
He said that the EC, under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution, is responsible for electoral redelineation exercises as deemed necessary, based on several principles including making it “easier for all voters to go out to vote during elections without having to cross state borders”.