Redelineation doesn’t take into account 1MDB, GST, says don

The redelineation exercise could give BN an advantage in the next general election, but it does not take into account current scandals against the ruling government, Universiti Selangor vice-chancellor Mohammad Redzuan Othman said today.

"This redelineation was done based on voting patterns in 2013, but it doesn’t mean that voting patterns of 2018 and 2013 are the same.

"Because in 2013, there was no 1MDB, and no GST, so this pattern may not be the same in the upcoming general election," Redzuan said at a seminar on the maqasid(objectives) of syariah in Petaling Jaya.

He noted, however, that in the past, redelineation exercises would result in major BN victories.

"If we observe since Merdeka, BN’s highest share of the popular vote is 65 percent.

"But they keep winning 80 to 90 percent of the seats, meaning that the popular vote is not reflected in the seats, and this is helped by the redelineation, the facts show this.”

The redelineation report was passed in Parliament on Wednesday, and was gazetted the next day.

Critics claim that the redrawing of electoral boundaries would give BN an unfair advantage in the polls, while polarising voters along racial lines.

Election Commission chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah had in an interview with the New Straits Times on Thursday said that the redelineation proposal drew constituency boundaries along racial lines, in the interest of keeping ethnic groups together. -Mkini