DAP is seeking a meeting with Election Commission chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman to air its dissatisfaction over the recent re-delineation exercise involving the party's stronghold in Kota Melaka.

Kota Melaka Member of Parliament and DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said today he would seek an explanation from Abdul Rashid as to why vast changes were made to the commission's initial proposal after hearing appeals from the Melaka state government.

"What I expect from the EC is that it is able to persuade and convince me that in the delineation exercise for Kota Melaka parliamentary constituency, the EC has been fair and professional.

"Until now, I cannot find any defensible logic why the EC could amend its original proposal in the way that it has done for the Kota Melaka seat," he said in a press statement.

Kerk issued the request to the EC chairperson after the latter was quoted in Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily yesterday as challenging political parties and non-governmental organisations to argue their cases with him if they felt the EC was biased.

The commission's original proposals were unveiled last August and following public feedback, it drew up fresh proposals that were displayed earlier this month for further feedback.

No response

Contacted later, Kerk said a copy of the press statement had been faxed to the EC chairperson's office earlier today.

"I also tried calling his office this morning but was unable to get through to him. I left a message with his secretary but I have not received a response so far," he said.

Questioned of the likelihood of his invitation being accepted by Abdul Rashid, the DAP leader said he did not foresee any problems.

"I will leave it to (Abdul Rashid) to decide whether the meeting to argue things out will be done openly and in the presence of the press or behind closed doors...I hope he will treat this matter as an urgent o­ne and fix a date for our meeting as early as possible," he added.

Voter distribution

In his press statement, Kerk said he was dissatisfied with the voter distribution for several Melaka parliamentary and state constituencies in the latest EC proposal.

"Voter distribution in the original EC proposal for the affected parliamentary constituencies were more evenly distributed," said Kerk, referring to the Tangga Batu, Bukit Katil and Kota Melaka constituencies.

He was also unhappy with the amended voter distribution for several state constituencies, which saw voter numbers range between 13,458 for the Teluk Mas state seat and 19,096 for the Bandar Hilir seat.

"The EC must answer why it abandoned its first proposal which (allowed) for more even distribution of voter population not o­nly for the three affected parliamentary constituencies but also for five state seats under the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat," he stressed.

EC criticised

Last month, Kerk protested what was said to be "unjustifiable" amendments to the EC's re-delineation proposals, particularly, the shifting of several state seats in between two parliamentary constituencies in Melaka.

He also expressed reservations over similar changes in the Bukit Bintang parliamentary constituency in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, the EC re-delineation report is expected to be completed by the end of the month, with the new electoral boundaries coming into force in time for the general elections, due before November 2004.

The commission earlier explained to the press that the revisions made were based o­n voter population and other factors such as the number of voters, the physical area of the constituencies and their assessibility.

Despite this, the commission came under heavy fire from opposition politicians who claim the proposals were made to favour the Barisan Nasional government.