MIRI – Several constituencies in Sarawak are seeing almost double the number of voters eligible to cast their ballots in the upcoming 15th general election.
Among these, the district of Miri has the highest increase, with the state constituencies of Senadin, Pujut and Lambir showing almost a 100% surge based on the new electoral roll.
Sarawak United People’s Party president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said the Election Commission updated state legislators on the matter during the current state assembly session in Kuching.
“Based on the new electoral roll that includes the Undi18 voters and the new automatic voters, the Senadin seat in Miri has the highest increase of new voters in a state constituency.
“Senadin now has 67,904 voters compared with 34,274 in the last electoral roll,” he said.
He added that the Pujut constituency has 43,774 voters now as compared with 27,593 previously, while Lambir has 38,277 voters compared with 19,911 previously.
Overall, there are 675,077 new voters in Sarawak, he said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg noted the large number of new voters reflected in the latest data from the EC.
He stressed that these voters will be able to participate in the upcoming polls, and as chairman of the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak coalition called on component parties to reach out to the new voters immediately.
Recently, Datuk Lawrence Lai, the northern general election coordinator for opposition Parti Sarawak Bersatu, said that the federal government needs to fast-track a proposal to create more parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak (and Sabah) to reflect the status of the two regions as equal partners in Malaysia.
This can be done via a redelineation exercise before the 15th general election, he said.
Lai, who is a former Miri mayor and a lawyer, said the proposal for Sarawak to have more parliamentary seats is justifiable as the latest electoral statistics for 2022 show a big surge in voters.
He told The Vibes that new young voters aged below 21, plus those eligible after being automatically registered, have hugely added to voters in urban constituencies.
Lai, a former Sarawak Advocates Association deputy chairman, cited the Miri parliamentary constituency as an example, as there is an estimated increase of up to 70% new voters here this year, compared with 2018 when the last federal election took place with some 83,000-plus eligible voters.
“The latest statistics I have show that with the Undi18 and automatic voters registration already in place, Miri has about 140,000 eligible voters. That is an increase of about 70% already,” he said.
Lai said a proposal to create new parliamentary seats for Sarawak and Sabah was raised in the Dewan Rakyat sitting earlier this week but no commitment was made with regards to when the redelineations should be carried out.
He called for the creation of the new seats to be fast-tracked before GE15, if possible.
Sarawak now has 31 parliamentary constituencies out of the total 222 in the Dewan Rakyat. – The Vibes, May 18, 2022
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