Potential for 70 new additional parliamentary seats

SHAH ALAM - The number of parliamentary seats in Malaysia could potentially increase by between 60 to 70 seats by the 16th General Election (GE16), compared to the current total of 222 seats, which was last set in 2008.

However, this projection will only became a reality if the Election Commission (EC) successfully completed the boundary review ahead of schedule, with the proposed review receiving support from two-thirds of the Members of Parliament (MP).

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics Perdana Centre lecturer Associate Professor Dr Mazlan Ali said the effort to add parliamentary seats was currently unavoidable due to a significant increase in voters in certain parliamentary areas.

For example, Mazlan said in Selangor, the Bangi parliamentary seat recorded the highest increase in voters in GE15, with 124,640 individuals, followed by Kota Raja (95,691) and Subang (84,518) due to the implementation of the Undi-18 and automatic voter registration.

Moreover, the Bangi parliamentary constituency now has the highest population among the 222 parliamentary constituencies in Malaysia, with 691,900 people, followed by Kota Raja (526,400) and Subang (481,100).

According to the EC's website, there were now at least 85 parliamentary constituencies with more than 100,000 voters.

If all these were divided into two constituencies each, it could see an increase in parliamentary seats from 222 to 307.

"Thus, if asked what is the ideal number of voters for each parliamentary seat in Peninsular Malaysia, the answer is around 50,000 to 60,000, while for Sabah and Sarawak and rural areas, it should be around 15,000 to 30,000 voters.

"Therefore, I believe Malaysia needs to add between 60 to 70 new parliamentary seats to balance the growing population in the country, including eight to 10 seats each for Sabah and Sarawak," he told Sinar.

Additionally, Mazlan highlighted that Sabah and Sarawak deserved 35 per cent of the total parliamentary seats allocated nationwide if the Dewan Rakyat approved the EC's proposed electoral boundary review in the future.

Mazlan emphasised that this was crucial for the Federal Government to fulfil one of the promises or conditions in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which previously stipulated that Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore should be allocated 35 per cent of the parliamentary seats in the country.

However, Mazlan added that after Singapore left Malaysia in August 1965, Sabah and Sarawak were only allocated 26 per cent of the parliamentary seats in Malaysia to this day.

Currently, out of the 222 parliamentary seats nationwide, 165 seats, or 75 per cent, were in Peninsular Malaysia, while the remaining 25 per cent or 56 seats were in Borneo, with 26 seats in Sabah and 31 seats in Sarawak.

"Sabah and Sarawak deserve more parliamentary seats based on geographical factors and the large size of the states, as well as the less developed transportation network, which necessitates more representatives at both the state assembly and parliamentary levels," he said.

Meanwhile, Mazlan said although the opposition claimed that the Madani government will use "gerrymandering" or manipulation of electoral boundaries as the last resort to maintain power in Putrajaya in GE16, he believed the opposite might occur.

"For example, even though the boundary review process was approved by Parliament before GE14, it did not help the BN government but instead became a double-edged sword.

"BN not only suffered a severe defeat to PH due to the large wave of rejection following the increase in mixed seats but also lost Putrajaya for the first time," he said.

Meanwhile, Sunway University political analyst Professor Wong Chin Huat emphasised that a boundary review was necessary due to the addition of over six million new voters following the implementation of Automatic Voter Registration and Undi18.

However, he added that the boundary review did not necessarily require an increase in parliamentary or state assembly seats, unless there was a need to equalise the number of voters in the respective states.

Wong stressed that Article 113 and the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution did not specify the ideal size of voters for each electoral area.

"What is emphasised is that for electoral areas within the same state, the number of voters must be "approximately equal" based on Subsection 2(C) of the 13th Schedule.

"For instance, in April 2023, Bangi had 311,499 voters while Sabak Bernam had only 51,842 voters, meaning that the number of voters in Bangi is more than six times that of Sabak Bernam.

"This violates the Constitution unless we consider "six" as "approximately equal to one". This also disadvantages young Malays as their voting power is diminished," he said.

The last boundary review was conducted in March 2018, prior to GE14.

Wong added that boundary reviews could only be carried out under three condition which were regular reviews, changes in the number of parliamentary or state assembly seats and changes in state boundaries such as the formation of Putrajaya in the past.

"Regular reviews are conducted to comply with the 13th Schedule requirements, particularly to ensure the number of voters within a state is almost the same," he said.

Wong said it can only be done a minimum of eight years after the last review report was submitted to the Prime Minister by the EC, with no maximum period specified.

"For boundary reviews due to changes in the number of parliamentary or state assembly seats, there is no time restriction.

"It must be completed within two years after the change in the number of seats takes effect, involving the relevant states," he added.

INFO

Increase in number of Dewan Rakyat seats (1959-2024)

1959-1964: 104

1969: 144

1974-1982: 154

1986: 177

1990: 180

1995: 192

1999: 193

2004: 219

2008-2024: 222

The distribution of the total 222 parliamentary seats in Malaysia showed that Sabah and Sarawak still received nine per cent less than the 35 per cent ratio allocated under MA63.