Undemocratic to oppose seat changes, DAP man tells Muhyiddin

 

JOHOR BY-ELECTIONS | Perikatan Nasional chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin has been told not to fret over a redelineation exercise or the addition of new seats for the next general election.

Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran emphasised that any efforts to obstruct this process run contrary to the principles of democracy.

“Muhyiddin need not fret. This is a democratic process.

“Let the Election Commission (EC) do its job. Especially since our country (last) added new parliamentary seats in 2008,” he told Malaysiakini.

Kulasegaran said this while addressing Muhyiddin’s appeal to Pulai parliamentary voters, who urged them to vote against Pakatan Harapan’s candidate in order to prevent a potential constituency boundary redelineation

Previously, the PN chief asserted that a victory for Harapan in the Pulai constituency would guarantee a two-thirds majority for the coalition government in the Dewan Rakyat.

With this majority, Muhyiddin alleged the government will likely break up parliamentary constituencies with high population density, which will in turn lead to DAP winning more seats.

42k vs 311k

However, Kulasegaran - who is a DAP lawmaker - said that PN’s stance against adding new parliamentary seats does not make sense.

“For example, the number of voters in the Putrajaya constituency is 42,881, while in Bangi, it has already reached 311,469.

“This is clearly unfair and does not reflect the principle of fair representation in voting; ‘one person, one vote’,” he said.

Under existing regulations, the government can adjust a constituency’s size and boundaries with a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, this exercise can only be done every eight years - with the last one carried out just before the 2018 general election.

However, the redelineation can be forced if the number of Parliament seats is increased or decreased.

For this, a two-thirds majority is required to pass changes recommended by the EC.

In 2008, the EC expanded the number of parliamentary seats, raising the total from 219 to 222. - Mkini