THE Election Commission must not allow political parties in Sarawak to dictate the electoral boundaries in the re-delineation of parliamentary and state constituencies in Sarawak, a civil society group said.
Rise of Social Efforts Sarawak (ROSE) coordinator Geoffrey Tang said allowing political parties to decide electoral boundaries is akin to letting politicians pick their voters.
"There are 82 state constituencies and 31 parliamentary constituencies in this state. ROSE proposes that all these state and parliamentary constituencies be redrawn by the EC after it gets the views of all voters and bodies representing the voters.
"We don't want the redelineation to favour any particular political group or politician," he said in a press statement.
Tang said ROSE will be watching the delineation exercise closely as it is concerned about the rights of the people.
Following the automatic registration of Malaysians to vote, Sarawak is seeing more than 3,000 of new voters every month, he said.
"We want to create greater awareness of the rights of voters through public talks and exhibitions. We will be going on a statewide campaign soon," he said.
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said last month that the delineation exercise is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
PDP is a component party of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak, which also comprises Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu, Sarawak United Peoples Party, and Parti Rakyat Sarawak. – June 30, 2024.
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