New constituencies: Both must agree says EC
K Pragalath, FMT
The Election Commission (EC) is hoping that politicians from Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat would put the nation’s interest first when weighing in new constituencies.
Speaking at a Bar Council organized seminar on Constituency delineation- Knowing where to draw the line – EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said: “We are very worried. Both sides have to agree for the sake of the country.
“The government doesn’t have its two third majority. I don’t want to explore this matter now.”
Under the law, creation of new constituency, is done under Article 46 of the Federal Constitution.
Approving the creation of new constituencies would require the consent of two thirds of the legislators.
This is because Article 46 would need to be amended. This is in contrast to alterations of boundaries which can be done with a simple majority in parliament.
In the recently concluded 13th general election, BN only obtained 133 parliamentary seats whereas Pakatan Rakyat clinched 89 seats out of a total 222 seats.
Wan Ahmad confirmed that delineation process would take place end of this year and would include creating new parliamentary constituencies.
“We will create new seats in urban areas, especially in Selangor, Johor and Negeri Sembilan,” he said.
In the event BN and Pakatan failed to compromise on the forming of new constituencies, then the EC would look another option.
“If we cannot create parliamentary seats, we will create more state seats,” he said saying that the state seats can be merged into existing parliament seats.
