Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties and the opposition have adequte opportunities to lodge protests concerning the redelineation of the electoral boundaries by the Election Commission (EC), said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He pointed out that all parties must scrutinise the proposed redelineation including in terms of whether it involved increasing or decreasing the number of electorates or changing the name of the constituency.

“However, I don’t think BN component parties agree to all the proposals and I also think not all the opposition parties agree to the proposed amendments.

“But I believe that sufficient time will be set by the EC to enable the disagreement to be translated into a protest,” he told Malaysian journalists in New York.

Ahmad Zahid earlier attended a reception with United States President Barack Obama for delegation heads attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The EC began to display the Proposed Review of the redelineation notice with full details of the proposed recommendations at specified locations in all federal and state constituencies within peninsular Malaysia and Sabah for one month (Sept 15 to Oct 14).

Ahmad Zahid said that in this matter, he was aware of the statements made by the BN component parties themselves such as the MCA and Gerakan which gave differing views from those made by the EC.

He said the EC certainly had its own yardstick in discharging its responsibilities.

“I believe Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as Barisan Nasional (chairperson) will hold a meeting of the BN supreme council at the end of the week, and certainly this matter will be discussed as the main agenda,” he added.

- Bernama