EC receives 18 objections over proposed Sarawak electoral boundaries review

KUCHING (Sept 24): The Election Commission (EC) has received 18 representations objecting to the proposed electoral boundaries under the 7th Sarawak Constituency Delimitation Review, with most concerning changes to polling districts between state constituencies, said chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun.

He said the total representations as of yesterday were received online from across Sarawak.

“The objections we have received so far were mostly specific to changes in polling districts from one state constituency to another.

“There are also several objections related to the proposed names of the state constituencies and so on. We will look into and evaluate them in detail later,” he told reporters after visiting the display area for the delimitation review at the Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) lobby.

Also present were EC Sarawak director Abang Noraffian Abang Ibrahim and DBKU director Ramzi Abdillah.

Ramlan said the objections received so far involved areas such as Sarikei, Bintulu, and Sibu, although he did not have the specific breakdown of the 18 representations with him.

“We still have about a week for the public to submit their views before the display period ends on September 30.

“I hope more people will provide their views on the proposed review, whether in the form of objections, support, or otherwise,” he said.

Ramlan said the EC would consider several principles when determining the boundaries, including the number of voters, geographical conditions, and locality.

“There are many principles that we apply but each of them is unique to the particular state constituency and area. We cannot apply a single principle uniformly to all areas.

“So, these principles are based on specific criteria according to the uniqueness of the respective areas,” he said.

Asked whether any of the 18 objections would require a major review of the proposed boundaries, he said none had reached that stage so far.

“At this point, thankfully, no. The objections are mainly, as mentioned earlier, about the transfer of polling districts from one state constituency to another,” he said.

Ramlan also acknowledged that some constituencies under the proposed review could have fewer than 10,000 voters.

He said this was because the number of voters was not the sole consideration in determining a constituency.

“Sometimes the area is small and the number of voters is not large, but the constituency is still necessary because there are other factors that need to be considered.

“For example, we need a particular group to have representation in the State Legislative Assembly and so on. That is why we can that there are factors of this nature that need to be considered,” he said.

Election Commission lead new constituencies onsite Ramlan Harun