'Is Najib willing to be PM with just 16.5pct of popular vote?'

GE14 | DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has questioned if Najib Abdul Razak would be willing to become prime minister with just 16.5 percent of the popular vote.

Lim said this after Najib reminded Malaysians that victory in the general election was not based on the popular vote when announcing the dissolution date of Parliament yesterday.

"After the monstrous redelineation and gerrymandering took place, according to Bersih, the government can be elected with just 16.5 percent of the popular vote.

"But there will be no credibility, no legitimacy, no authority... Is he (Najib) prepared to be prime minister with just 16.5 percent of the popular vote?" Lim asked at a press conference in Ayer Hitam today.

On Monday, Bersih highlighted the drastic disparity in size between parliamentary seats following the Election Commission's redelineation exercise.

It pointed out that the smallest 112 parliamentary seats, many of which lean towards BN, only comprise 33 percent or 4,469,621 voters.

This means that a coalition that wins the 112 smallest seats with slightly more than half of the votes in each seat, or around 16.5 percent of total voters, would be able to form the government, said Bersih.

The scenario presented by the electoral reform group is only theoretical, however, as it is unlikely that one coalition will win all 112 of the smallest seats, and because the margin of victory in each seat may vary.

It does, however, highlight the disproportionate allocation of voters in each seat.

In the last general election, BN won 48 percent of the popular vote, but captured 60 percent of total seats in Parliament.

No caretakers?

On a separate matter, Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong criticised the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), the government's propaganda arm, for suggesting that there is no such thing as a ‘caretaker government’ after the dissolution of Parliament.

Najib had announced the dissolution of Parliament was effective today.

"I call on the entire BN federal and state government not to use government resources to campaign.

"That's a very basic thing. Once Parliament is dissolved, they can't use government resources to campaign, including Jasa," Liew said.

On the possibility of former Johor DAP chief Boo Cheng Hau being dropped as a candidate in the general election, he added the matter will be dealt with when the time comes. - Mkini