The recent Sarawak electoral re-delineation exercise was gazetted on Aug 21 and is now awaiting parliamentary approval, Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof announced today.

The re-delineation's report has also been submitted to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Aziz said.

Once the report is tabled in Parliament and passed with a simple majority, the new electoral boundaries and resulting seats will be included in the coming state election, he said.

"Our duty is complete," he said at the EC's 58th anniversary ceremony in Putrajaya.

The Sarawak redelineation exercise sees an another 11 state seats added to the present 71 seats, bringing the total to 82. The Sarawak state elections have to be called by the middle of next year.

The EC also recommended a change of names for one parliamentary and four state seats.

The commission received a record-breaking 64 eligible objections, where 2,000 people turned up throughout Sarawak through during the local inquiry into the redelineation exercise, according to Aziz.

The objections were from the local authorities and groups of 100 or more electors.

PKR Batu Lintang assemblyperson See Chee How ( photo, above ) had challenged the redelineation exercise in the court and in May, the High Court in Kuching nullified the Sarawak constituency redelineation.

However, the High Court decision was overturned by Court of Appeal, which said the redelineation exercise is valid.

Aziz also revealed that the EC had not been invited to sit on the National Consultative Committee on Political Funding (JKNMPP) set up by prime minister to regulate political party funding .

EC not invited to be a member

"This is a good idea. It will ensure that no allegation can be thrown at the political parties as the funding may be sourced from persons with certain interests or black money," he said.

"We are not invited to be a member. I opined this is because it is not appropriate (for the EC to join) but I don't know," he said.

It is not necessary for the EC to be roped into the committee, as JKNMPP can always approach the commission for information, he said.

However, Aziz ( photo ) called for the committee to include election expenditure as well into its scope of work.

The EC needs more power to regulate the election expenses, he admitted, including the power to audit the expenditures of rthe candidates.

"The EC is only tasked to receive the election expenditure report," Aziz said, adding that the EC receives the report, together with receipts and bills attached to it, from the candidates.

"We have no power to audit their expenditure. As long as their expenses do not exceed the spending limit, we will (have to) accept the reports. That's it," he said.

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