Electoral watchdog Bersih is contemplating filing a legal suit against the Election Commission (EC) over the malapportionment of constituencies throughout the nation.

Citing Section 2C of the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, Bersih resource person Wong Chin Huat pointed out how all constituencies were supposed to be approximately equal.

A study by Penang Institute however found that this has not been the case for several states.

For example, Wong said in Selangor, the ratio of the largest constituency to the smallest constituency in the state is 4.05 to 1.

"Are you saying that 150,000 voters is approximately equal to 37,000 voters?" he asked in reference to the two constituencies - Damansara and Sabak Bernam.

The EC, he said, would probably explain this is due to Damansara being an urban seat and Sabak Bernam a rural seat.

Further citing the constitution, Wong argued that all seats should be approximately equal with the exception of particularly large areas.

"Like Gua Musang, for example. It covers almost half of Kelantan," he told a press conference in Petaling Jaya.

Wong, therefore, would like to know what would be the EC’s preparation in the court of law with regard to this.

"How are you going to convince the court that 4.05 is approximately equal to 1. It's an insult to our intelligence to believe this," he added.

In the case of Penang, the EC, too had abdicated its constitutional duty to minimise malapportionment in the redelineation process, said Wong.

The state’s parliamentary constituencies have not deviated by more than 28 percent in the past decade but Wong argued that the EC should still redelineate to minimise malapportionment as the next opportunity to do so would only come in the next eight years.

The most obvious case in Penang is the seat of Paya Terubong in which the EC had failed to mitigate malapportionment caused by development and demographic movement.

With 41,707 voters, Paya Terubong has almost twice as many electorate as the average state constituency.

EC abdicated its constitutional duty

Wong believes that the EC did not do much when it comes to Penang as “no matter how they draw Penang, there is no advantage for MCA or Gerakan”.

“The real issue is that our EC has abdicated its constitutional duty. They abandoned their job, they sleep on the job.

“The EC knows redelineation only for two things - to weaken the opposition and to create small seats. This is proof […] that the EC is basically just serving the political master,” added Wong.

Meanwhile, Bersih vice-chairperson Thomas Fann said concerned citizens can sign up as objectors to the upcoming redelineation process by logging on to dart.bersih.org.

Fann claimed 4,000 people have registered since Bersih made the announcement on Sept 15.

The redelineation exercise officially started on Sept 15, with a one-month period for public viewing and objections.

The EC’s proposal would see the boundaries of 128 parliamentary constituencies redrawn.

Critics of the exercise had said that the proposed boundaries would strengthen Umno’s control of the Dewan Rakyat, at the cost of causing greater racial polarisation in Malaysia as the new boundaries supposedly creates constituencies that are dominated by one ethnic group or another.