By Simon Peter
KUCHING, Sept 6, 2014:
Opposition DAP will not support a Bill in parliament to increase the number of
State and parliamentary seats in Sarawak if the re-delineation of the electoral
boundaries is lop-sided, its vice chairman Chong Chieng Jen said today.
Chong (left) says DAP will not support Bill to increase the number of elected State and parliamentary seats for Sarawak unless EC is fair.
He said he expects the PKR and
PAS to do the same when the Bill is tabled in Parliament in future.
"I wish to reiterate that
DAP will not agree with the lop-sided constituency re-delineation whereby the
number of voters in urban seats are several times more than the number of
voters in rural seats.
"Unless the Election
Commission puts into practice the principle of "One person, one vote, one
value" in the upcoming constituency re-delineation exercise, there is no
way that there will be any re-delineation exercise or increase in the number of
State or parliamentary seats," he warned.
"Without the consent of
Members of Parliament from Pakatan Rakyat, there is no way that the EC can
re-delineate the State and Parliamentary constituencies, and there is no way
that Sarawak will have any new State constituencies," he added.
He said the Bill to increase the number of State or Parliamentary
constituencies needs to get the support of no less than two-thirds of the total
number of Members of Parliament.
At present, there are 222 MPs,
comprising 86 from Pakatan Rakyat, 135 from the Barisan Nasinal and one Independent.
"If there were to be any
constituency re-delineation, BN will need to have at least 148 MPs supporting
such motion in the Parliament.
"With its present 135
members and one Independent, it is still 12 short," he added.
According to the Federal
Constitution, there should be constituency re-delineation every eight
years. The last re-delineation exercise
for Parliamentary seats was carried out in year 2003 and as for Sarawak state
constituencies, it was done in year 2005.
As such, it is overdue for
another constituency re-delineation exercise, but BN will not do it because
without the 2/3rd majority support in Parliament, BN could not engage in its
gerrymandering to enhance its winning chances.
Recently, State Election director Takun
Sunggah had said that the commission was planning to create nine new State
constituencies in Sarawak.
According to the Federal
Constitution, there should be constituency re-delineation every eight
years. The last re-delineation exercise for Sarawak was carried out in 2005.
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