Experts see hurdles facing independent body for electoral boundaries

 A separate commission could reduce gerrymandering and improve trust in electoral boundaries, but constitutional changes will be required, say watchdog bodies.

Indera Mahkota MP Saifuddin Abdullah recently proposed stripping the responsibility for redelineation entirely from the EC and handing it over to a separate body.

PETALING JAYA:

A proposal for an independent body to oversee changes in electoral boundaries is timely but faces legal and cost challenges, according to two electoral watchdog bodies.

Danesh Prakash Chacko, head of the Tindak group, said a parliamentary committee on institutional reforms had already been made aware of the need for such a body since 2023.

With an MP now calling for the Election Commission to be stripped of the responsibility for electoral redelineation and handing these powers to a separate body, Chacko said “this is an opportunity to form a commission that is truly independent”.

“We can set some criteria if the person on the commission happens to be an MP or assembly member,” he said.

Projek Sama chairman Thomas Fann said a properly structured redelineation commission could reduce electoral gerrymandering and help restore public confidence in the process.

Fann noted that other countries such as the UK use separate boundary commissions for each region to draw constituency lines based on voter parity and local administrative boundaries.

“This would regain public trust and restore electoral fairness,” he said.

Indera Mahkota MP Saifuddin Abdullah, who called for a separate commission on electoral boundary changes, said the EC should not bear the responsibilities of conducting elections and redrawing constituency boundaries.

Both Chacko and Fann cautioned that the proposal faces significant hurdles. A constitutional amendment would be required, said Chacko, while Fann said the new body would incur additional costs and bureaucratic complexity.

Asked whether strengthening EC independence and making it answerable to Parliament might be a simpler alternative, Chacko said “the boundaries commission should be seen as something to be done in the short term if there is political will”.

However, Fann argued that both reforms had merit and need not be mutually exclusive.

He said  a separate body could draw on specialists, including retired judges, electoral administrators, geographers, GIS experts, demographers, statisticians, constitutional lawyers, public administration experts and civil society representatives.

Given that redelineation in Malaysia is conducted every eight years, Fann said, the commission need not be permanent but could instead be convened when a delineation exercise is called. - FMT