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More mistakes by EC in the second public display?

MP SPEAKS On Thursday, I highlighted two possible mistakes by the Election Commission (EC) in the second public display of the 2016 delimitation exercise (referred to as ‘Syor 2' hereon). There was a case of a ‘missing’ polling station in Johor and also a case of a new polling station in Pahang.

In this statement, I want to highlight 10 cases where the number of voters in polling stations have been changed from the first public display (Syor 1) to the second public display (Syor 2). Why is this an issue? Think of the delimitation exercise as one big jigsaw puzzle. Each polling station is one piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

From Syor 1 to Syor 2, the Election Commission can shift polling stations from one state seat to another, but it cannot change the size and composition of the individual polling stations. The reasoning is simple: If voters are shifted from one polling station to another between Syor 1 and Syor 2, there is no way for the voters to know if they are the ones who have been shifted. This would obviously affect their constitutional right to object to the delimitation exercise under Syor 2.

For example, in Syor 1, the Taman Temiang Jaya polling station in the N12 Temiang state seat under the P128 Seremban parliament seat had 2,994 voters (See Figure 1 below).

However, under Syor 2, the number of voters in the Taman Temiang Jaya polling station has decreased from 2,994 voters to 2,412 voters (See Figure 2 below). Note that the number of voters for the other polling stations remain the same. Note also, that I am not challenging the ability of the EC to shift polling stations from one state seat to another, which is what it has done to the Kampong Nee Yan polling station (from N12 Temiang to N11 Lobak).

What I am challenging is the EC’s ability to change the composition of the individual polling stations and hence the number of voters in each polling station from Syor 1 to Syor 2.

For example, if I am one of the 2,994 voters in Taman Temiang Jaya in Syor 1, I have no idea if I am still a voter in Taman Temiang Jaya in Syor 2 or if I have been shifted to another polling station. So, I cannot make an objection even if I wanted to since I have no idea which polling station or which state seat or which parliament seat I will be voting in if Syor 2 is passed in Parliament.

Another example of this mistake made by the EC is found in the Sura Gate polling station in the N27 Sura state seat under the P39 Dungun Parliament seat. In Syor 1, the Sura Gate polling station has 1,387 voters.

In Syor 2, the number of voters in Sura Gate has been increased to 2,550 (Figure 4 below).

In total, I identified 10 such cases, whereby the number of voters in each polling station was changed from Syor 1 to Syor 2. The full list of polling stations is listed in Table 1 below.

The EC needs to state if it has made a mistake in changing the number of voters in these polling stations from Syor 1 to Syor 2. The failure to do so may mean that the constitutional right of certain voters to voice their objections to the delimitation exercise proposal in Syor 2 are affected.


ONG KIAN MING is Serdang MP.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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