BARISAN Nasional (BN) always wins big in an election that follows a redelineation exercise, Institut Darul Ehsan chief executive Professor Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman said today.

He cited the 11th general election in 2004 when BN bounced back after a poor performance in 1999. The convincing victory was widely attributed to the appointment of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, or Pak Lah, to the prime minister’s office the year before, but Redzuan believed redelineation had played a big part in the win.

“BN achieved victory not because they were popular but because they were helped by the redelineation. They won by design.

“Many said BN won big in 2004 due to the Pak Lah factor but it wasn’t the case. If Pak Lah were popular, he would have gotten 70% of the popular vote,” Redzuan said during a forum on the Election Commission’s proposed redelineation exercise, at Institut Darul Ehsan in Shah Alam, today.

There were 219 federal seats in the 2004 election, of which BN won 198 along with a 63.8% share of the popular vote.

In comparison, BN under Pak Lah’s predecessor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the 1999 general election won 148 out of 193 seats and 63.9% of the popular vote.

The 1999 general election saw reduced support for BN resulting from the Reformasi movement sparked by Dr Mahathir’s sacking of Anwar Ibrahim from government and Anwar’s subsequent “black eye” incident in prison.

The Election Commission conducted a redelineation exercise in 2003, ahead of GE11, which had increased the number of federal seats.

In 1999, more than 50% of Malay voters had supported the opposition, which helped PAS to form the state government in Terengganu, he said.

The forum today discussed the proposed redelineation exercise which has been completed except for Selangor. 

The redelineation will be the sixth after electoral boundaries were redrawn in 1958, 1974, 1984, 1994 and 2003.

“Although there has been a few redelineations, Malaysians and voters have been accepting them. 

“Before 2003, there were not many protests because they (the voters) felt that the EC had done a good and fair job,” said Redzuan. – January 23, 2018.