THE Election Commission (EC) has been urged to redraw electoral boundaries in Sarawak based on current population density.

Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said the EC must stop relying on feedback and recommendations from politicians and political parties in setting electoral boundaries for constituencies.

“The main priority of the EC in the ongoing redelineation exercise in Sarawak must be to ensure that every voter can cast his or her vote.

“The population density in a constituency, whether state or parliamentary constituency, should be equally demarcated so as to avoid a situation where certain constituencies have many voters and other constituencies nearby much less.

“Every constituency should ideally have about the same number of voters.

“In previous redelineation of electoral boundaries in Sarawak, there were indications of political involvement in setting the boundaries,” he said during a discussion on the ongoing redelineation exercise in Sarawak.

The discussion was organised by Rise of Social Efforts Sarawak (ROSE), a civil rights group.

On June 29, ROSE had urged the EC not to allow political parties in Sarawak to dictate the electoral boundaries that they prefer in the ongoing redelineation of parliamentary and state constituencies in Sarawak.

Allowing political parties to dictate electoral boundaries will be like allowing politicians to decide who they want as their voters, said ROSE coordinator Geoffrey Tang.

“The EC must not let politicians lead the way in dictating the changes to be made to the electoral boundaries as this will mean politicians can decide who they want as their voters.

“There are 82 state constituencies and 31 parliamentary constituencies in this state.

“ROSE proposes that all these state and parliamentary constituencies be redrawn by the EC after the EC gets the views of all concerned voters and bodies representing the voters,” he said. – July 14, 2024