EC chief: GE14 date not incumbent on new boundaries

The Election Commission (EC) said today that the date for the 14th general election will not be incumbent on completion of its ongoing redelineation exercise.

EC chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah told reporters that their duty is only to follow due processes to complete the nationwide exercise and submit a report to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"Not necessarily (GE14 called after redelineation is completed). It depends on when the report is tabled in Parliament.

"Our duty is to complete the (redelineation) report and submit it to the prime minister," he said when met in Shah Alam after chairing the third day of public inquiry for Selangor voters to object the ongoing exercise.

"After that, we 'wash our hands'... up to him (Najib) when he wants to bring (table) it (the report) in Parliament," he said.

Hashim earlier pointed out that the EC had been given eight years to complete the entire nationwide exercise but the process was delayed by more than a year due to various legal objections, including in Selangor.

"According to our regulations, we are not allowed to submit the report unless the exercise has been completed for Sabah, Sarawak and all the peninsula states," he said.

"All the rakyat waiting for is when would the election be called... We are just following the process.

"But it (election) is not incumbent on this (redelineation). If (Najib) says Parliament will be dissolved tomorrow, it will be dissolved...," he said in stressing that holding an election and carrying out the redelineation exercise are two separate functions of the EC.

'All objections will be considered'

Hashim, meanwhile, also said that the EC would take into consideration all formal objections filed with regard to the redelineation exercise in Selangor.

"Even if the voters were not present during the public inquiry, their objections will still be taken into consideration as they have filed written objections," he explained when asked to comment on an apparent low turnout at the inquiry session which began on Wednesday and scheduled to end on Jan 8.

"Also, if they were scheduled to attend a hearing but could not make it, they could also inform us and we would try to slot them in," he added.

The ongoing redelineation exercise has been marred by allegations of malapportionment and gerrymandering, and formal objections were filed by voters.

The EC is required to hold inquiries to consider these objections under Part II of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

Should the EC decide that changes to its proposals are necessary, it would be required to display the new proposal and allow objections to be filed by 30 days, and then hold the second and last round of local inquiries on those objections.

Otherwise, it may submit its proposal to the prime minister, who will table it in Parliament for approval by a simple majority.

If approved, the recommendations would be passed to be Yang di-Pertuan Agong in the form of a draft order to be issued, and hence becomes law.

Otherwise, the prime minister may make changes to the proposal in consultation with the EC, and then table it in the Dewan Rakyat again.- Mkini