We won’t allow this election commission to change boundaries, vows Anwar
(TMI) – Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will not endorse any delineation of electoral boundaries by the Election Commission (EC) with its current leadership still calling the shots, said Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Electoral laws allow redelineation exercises every eight years subject to approval by a two-thirds super majority in Parliament. The last redelineation exercise was in 2003 before Barisan Nasional (BN) last won such a majority in 2004.
“We firmly oppose this because the EC, with its tarnished track record and history, cannot be entrusted to carry out such an important task.”It doesn’t make sense and we will fiercely oppose this,” Anwar told The Malaysian Insider in Kuala Lumpur.
As BN currently has a simple majority in Parliament, it would be difficult for the EC to get the changes endorsed without opposition support.
The opposition has in the past inferred that the boundary realignment is skewered towards BN’s interests.
And each time the boundaries are redrawn, historically at least, Umno and BN always enjoy sweeping victories.
When the last delineation exercise was carried out was in 2003, PAS had just won big in the 1999 polls, mainly due to the support of the Malays who sympathised with Anwar following his sacking from government.
In the 2003 delineation exercise, the opposition said some constituencies were tampered with, whereby a large number of Chinese and Indian voters were assimilated into areas which were largely Malay-dominated.
Glaring examples include the Kuala Kedah constituency, which was won by Mohamad Sabu in 1999, and Pokok Sena, which was won by Mahfuz Omar.
During the delineation, the states where Umno enjoyed strong support saw more constituencies created. Johor saw its number of constituencies increase to 26.
Due to this, in 2004, BN won by a big margin with a large portion of the victory due to the delineation exercise in 2003.
However, the 2003 exercise was successful due to the fact that at that time BN had two-thirds majority in Dewan Rakyat.
In 2011, the delineation exercise was not carried out due to the fact that BN only had a simple majority, despite EC deputy chair Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar’s excuse that it had to be postponed due to the 13th general election.
Opposition leaders described the excuse in 2011 as hypocritical because in 2003 the delineation exercise was carried out a year before the general polls.
For Anwar, the delineation exercise was not a question of two-thirds majority but a question of the EC’s credibility, which must be resolved.
“The electoral rolls issue hasn’t been resolved until now. Sort that out first,” he said, referring to dubious voters in the rolls.
Anwar was also not convinced of changes in the EC despite new secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh being picked to replace Datuk Kamarudin Mohd Baria who retired.
