The current re-delineation exercise breached "the principle of one-man, one-vote and one-value" as it resulted in more parliamentary constituencies having glaring disparity in the number of electorates, said DAP leaders today.

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang described the situation as "ridiculous" when comparing the enormous gap in the number of voters between the newly-created Putrajaya parliamentary constituency with the Johor Bahru constituency.

"Malaysia will be an international laughing stock if the next general election is held with 85 voters in Putrajaya electing one MP while 90,187 voters in Johor Bahru are also electing one MP meaning that one vote in Putrajaya is equal to 1,061 votes in Johor Bahru," said Lim in a statement yesterday.

He said that the current exercise is more questionable than the previous two re-delineation exercises as the number of electorates in many constituencies did not follow the national average of voters each constituency is supposed to have.

According to Election Commission chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, the national average of voters for each parliamentary seat is 50,000.

"Yet, some constituencies still very much fell short or exceeded the national average as exemplified by Putrajaya and Johor Bahru," said Lim.

"I have pointed out one disturbing feature of the current re-delineation exercise that it is more unfair and undemocratic than the two previous re-delineation exercises in 1994 and 1984," he added.

25 percent deviation rule

The DAP leader explained that in his study of the four re-delineation exercises since 1974, he was using a "25 percent maximum deviation rule".

The study by DAP which excluded Sabah and Sarawak shows that the number of parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia has voter populations which deviated more than 25 percent from national average.

"The 1974 re-delineation was unfair, as it led to greater deviation in more constituencies from the 25 percent rule after re-delineation. In the 1984 and 1994 exercises, both saw a decrease in both absolute and percentage terms of the number of seats not fulfilling the 25 percent condition," Lim said.

"However, the 2002 exercise saw a substantial increase in number of seats not from 54 to 73 seats (from 38 to 45 per cent)," he added.

Lim revealed that the previous Election Commission had actually followed a "15 percent maximum deviation" as provided in the Federal Constitution until the provision was amended in 1962.

Thus, there is no longer any law which compels the commission to follow such requirement in its re-delineation exercise.

"At present, technically the sky is the limit. It can be of any variance," Lim lamented.

The DAP leader added that in the past, the argument to forego the "maximum deviation" by giving a different consideration to rural areas which have a smaller concentration of population but cover a larger geographical area.

"With the process of urbanisation which included those of the rural areas, this occurrence should progressively reduce," he argued.

"In 1994 and 1984, you can see this process taking place. [But], in the current delineation exercise, the reverse is taking place," Lim said.

Too much disparity

Meanwhile, DAP vice-chairperson Tan Seng Giaw also complained about the same issue as he highlighted the disparity between Kinta and Lenggong constituencies, both in the northern state of Perak.

Kinta has about 71,000 voters while Lenggong has about 21,000 voters, he said.

"How can you justify that?" he asked, adding that Lenggong is actually part urban, part rural.

"It is not a remote area like Kinabatangan (in Sabah) where one has to travel by boat for miles and miles. In Lenggong, you don't need to do that. Why so much disparity?"

Tan who is also Kepong MP lamented that those who are dissatisfied by the way boundaries for the constituencies are drawn would find it difficult to express their unhappiness.

"You can only talk about your own constituency," he said.

According to elections procedures, the EC will hold an inquiry if more than 100 voters in a particular constituency made an official request disputing the delineation of their constituency within 30 days of the announcement.

Thus, those who wish to highlight the disparity in other constituencies would need to find 100 voters from the particular areas before they could bring the case before the commission, the DAP leader said.

"It's difficult to protest, let alone asking them (the commission) to accept it," he said.