Electoral reform movement Bersih and Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap) have accused the Election Commission (EC) of gerrymandering in the redelineation exercise in Sarawak.

"Based on the voting trends observed in the 2013 general election, BN has a strong chance of winning nine out of the 11 new state seats," Bersih chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said today.

"When BN-friendly seats are created, the average size of the constituencies would shrink by between 25 percent and 47 percent.

"There has been a worsening imbalance in the number of voters in each state seat, making a mockery of the 'one person, one vote, one value' principle," Maria said.

Both groups made the accusation after comparing the total votes that can be collected in the polling districts of the 11 new state seats.

A new seat, Batu Kitang, and another existing seat, Telang Usan, are considered favourable to the opposition. Research indicated that the opposition can command 55.5 percent of votes in Telang Usan seat after the redelineation exercise.

According to Merap researcher Lee Wee Tak ( photo ), nine seats of the news are located in the rural areas, while the heavily populated and more urban areas are not given any more seats.

“EC only redelineated one out of the 10 most densely populated seats in the state,” Lee said, while the rest were not given equal attention.

In the 2011 Sarawak state election, the opposition made an almost clean sweep of the urban seats, while the rural seats were mostly won by BN.

'EC championing political interests'

“As the EC continues its approach of championing political interests instead of the interest of the voters, it cannot be said to enjoy public confidence,” Maria said.

“Bersih and Merap again call for the resignation of the entire EC for its failure to uphold the integrity of our electoral system.

“We are disappointed that despite the EC’s consistant failure, the new EC chairperson Hashim Abdullah was chosen from within the ranks of the commission and no effort has been made to change the process of appointment to boost the integrity and indepence of the commission,” Maria lamented.

Bersih treasurer Thomas Fann said what they want is for a retired judge to head the commission, not someone from the system.

The civil society will monitor closely the redelineation exercise in both Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia, Fann said.

The EC is expected to conduct the constituency redelineation exercise in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia in May, with the exercise expected to be completed before the end of the year.

"We hope not to see the rural seats further divided," Fann said, adding that Bersih would invite Hashim for a dialogue to discuss the redelineation.

Also present was political scientist Wong Chin Huat.