KUCHING, Oct 10, 2025: -The Election Commission (EC) is in the process of preparing recommendations for a review of the parliamentary electoral boundaries for Sarawak, according to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
She explained that the review is carried out based on the principles and procedures outlined under the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution as well as the jurisdiction provided under Article 113 of the Federal Constitution.
“The time has come to review the parliamentary constituencies for Sarawak after eight years. The eight-year timeline had ended on August 21, 2023, and at this time the EC is in the process of preparing the recommendations,” she said when explaining the current status of the re-delineation process in a written reply to Pagoh Member of Parliament Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today.
According to WAI.fm. Azalina also explained that for Sabah, the eight-year period ended on February 21, 2025, while for states in peninsular Malaysia, it will end on March 9, 2026.
“The process for each state can only be implemented after the eight-year period ends or if there is a legal amendment to the number of members of the Dewan Rakyat or State Legislative Assembly,” she said.
She further said that once the study recommendations for re-delineation for Sarawak have been prepared, a notice will be displayed to allow stakeholders to submit representations during the public exhibition period.
She said if there are objections, a local inquiry will be held as provided for in Part II, Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
“The local inquiry can be conducted at the request of the Sarawak government, local authorities or a group of at least 100 registered voters in the area concerned,” she added.
Azalina also stressed that issues of transparency or fairness do not arise in the redelineation process because every stakeholder will be given space to be involved.
“The Prime Minister will then have to table the demarcation review report and the draft demarcation order in the Dewan Rakyat to gain a simple majority support,” she explained.
She stressed that the Dewan Rakyat members will play an important role when the motion is tabled later — whether to approve or reject it in line with the spirit of democracy and the transparency of the country’s electoral process.
In August this year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Sri Fadillah Yusof had said that the federal government had agreed in principle to consider increasing the number of parliamentary seats for Sabah and Sarawak.
He had said the proposal was agreed in principle by Prime Minister Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim during the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council (MTPMA63) meeting in Kuching.
However, he said the proposed increase in the number of seats would require further discussions as there were differing legal views between the Attorney-General of Sarawak, Attorney-General of Sabah and federal Attorney-General.
In the May sitting of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (SLA), Deputy Minister of Law, Malaysia Agreement 1963 and State-Federal Relations, Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali had said no final decision had been made yet on the proposed re-delineation exercises of electoral boundaries in Sarawak.
She said discussions between the state government and the federal government were ongoing, saying that the discussions on strengthening Sarawak's representation in the Dewan Rakyat had remained active under the framework of MA63.
She said the Sarawak government had consistently pursued the demand to restore the one-third representation for Sarawak and Sabah in Parliament as originally envisaged under the MA63 and the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1962.
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