EC conducts study on re-delineation in Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR: The study on re-delineation of the electoral boundaries by the Election Commission (EC) in Sarawak has started this year, while in Sabah in 2025 and in the peninsula in 2026, according to the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh.

He said the study would take about two years, after which a report containing the findings of the EC will be submitted to the prime minister.

"In the process, many factors will be taken into account by the EC, such as proportionality," he said in response to a supplementary question from V. Ganabatirau (PH-Klang) regarding the re-delineation of electoral boundaries considering the disproportionate number of voters in some parliamentary constituencies.

Earlier, to an original question from Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kasim (PN-Arau) regarding the drastic drop in voter turnout in the 13th, 14th and 15th general elections, Ramkarpal said the overall turnout was 84.84 per cent, 82.3 per cent and 74.74 per cent, respectively.

He said the low turnout was influenced by the denominator used, which was the high number of registered voters following the implementation of automatic voter registration and the lowering of the voter age limit to 18 years.

He said that last year alone, a total of 206 voter education programmes were conducted and involved the participation of 123,647 participants.

The programme focused on providing an understanding of the election process in Malaysia and the importance of voters exercising their rights, he said, adding that the Election Academy (APR) had implemented 233 voter education programmes this year and involved 66,926 participants from various educational institutions, ministries and non-governmental organisations.

-- BERNAMA