Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposal the worst gerrymandering in all five redelineation exercises in nation’s history

The Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposal is the worst gerrymandering in all five redelineation exercises in the nation’s history.

Under the proposed redelineation, the parliamentary quota in the Peninsular states – which is the average number of electors per parliamentary constituency in the peninsular states, derived from dividing the total electorate by the total number of parliamentary constituencies in all the peninsular states – is 68,814.

The parliamentary quota for each state in Peninsular Malaysia are as follows:

The Election Commission owes the Malaysian electorate a full explanation why the present exercise is even more unfair and undemocratic in disregarding the “one man, one vote, one value” principle than the previous four constituency redelineations.

With Damansara in Selangor redelineated as the largest constituency with 150,439 votes, it is 218% bigger than the parliamentary quota of 68,814.

This will the biggest and undemocratic electorate disparity when compared to the four previous redelineations: in 2003, Johore Bahru, the parliamentary constituency with the biggest electorate (90,187) representing a 94% deviation from the parliamentary quota of 46,498; 49% deviation in the 1994 redelineation (Klang’s 69,422 voters to the parliamentary quota of 46,558), 69% maximum deviation in the 1984 redelineation (Petaling Jaya’s 67,846 voters to the parliamentary quota of 40,139) and 65% maximum deviation in the 1974 redelineation (Ipoh’s 51,569 to the parliamentary quota of 31,198).

This is why all the following 13 “super” Parliamentary seats redelineated with more than 100,000 voters should be redrawn so that they do not have more than 100,000 voters:

Damansara 150,439
Bangi 146,168
Klang 141,275
Petaling Jaya 129,363
Subang 128,330
Gelang Patah 112,081
Kota Raja 121,126
Pasir Gudang 108,156
Kota Melaka 105,067
Kuala Terengganu 101,875
Sungai Petani 101,829
Tumpat 101,318
Kapar 100,456