Sabah redelineation to be done early 2016

The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to carry out a redelineation exercise in Sabah early next year.

Its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said this would be followed by redelineation in the peninsula.

The redelineation for Sarawak has been completed.

Following the exercise, the Dewan Rakyat on Dec 2 passed a motion on the redelineation of the federal and state electoral boundaries in Sarawak, which saw an addition of 11 seats in the state assembly.

Sarawak currently has 71 state assembly seats.

"We have learned a lot from the experience of redelineating Sarawak, and we will use that experience for Sabah and the peninsula.

"Our target is to use the redelineation in the next general election," he told a a news conference after the EC's Friendly Visit programme to the Bukit Kepong Orang Asli village in Pasir Panjang, near here, Sunday.

Also present were EC deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah, and secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh.

Abdul Aziz said the redelineation was a complicated process because there was a lot of "noise" from certain quarters, which even led to the EC being brought to court.

Meanwhile, he said the EC had acquired six caravan vehicles worth RM1.2 million this year to expand the voter registration service, particularly in the rural and remote areas.

"Having these caravan vehicles will enable our officers to carry out outreach programmes and to monitor the operations and inspections for the registration of voters nationwide.

The EC's Friendly Visit programme, held for the first time, was part of the rebranding of its outreach programme using the National Blue Ocean Strategy.