Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Azmin Ali has warned the Election Commission (EC) against creating constituencies that predominately comprise a single race.

“If this happens, it would be an unhealthy development that could adversely affect the longstanding harmony amongst the people,” he told reporters today.

He said this was among the issues he raised during the EC’s local inquiry hearing in Shah Alam which concluded today.

The local inquiry is to hear Selangor voters’ and their state government’s objections to the EC's second re-delineation proposal for the state.

Azmin said his government had submitted its written objections on Feb 14, but chose to focus on the objections regarding the boundaries of 15 state constituencies affected by the re-delineation exercise.

This is due to time constraints with each group of objectors allocated only 30 minutes to make their case.

These constituencies are Teratai, Cempaka, Lembah Jaya, Bukit Antarabangsa, Gombak Setia, Batu Caves, Hulu Kelang, Jeram, Bukit Melawati, Ijok, Permatang, Sungai Burung, Morib, Teluk Datuk, and Sijangkang.

Azmin said he made his representations with the caveat that what he said at the inquiry would not prejudice the Selangor government's legal challenge against the re-delineation exercise, which will be heard at the Court of Appeal on March 23.

He said the state government had also reminded the EC that Section 2 of the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution requires the EC to have regard for the maintenance of local ties in its re-delineation proposals.

“That’s why we are asking the EC to revisit the matter and we have given many examples of what happened in Cempaka, Lembah Jaya and several other places I’ve presented this evening,” he said.

Selangor’s objections also cited the 2014 Electoral Integrity Project finding that Malaysia’s electoral boundaries were rated one of the worst in the world with its overall ranking at only 114 out of 127 countries.

Azmin said he also reminded the EC that the commission has two years until Sept 14 this year to complete the re-delineation exercise.

Thus, there was no need to rush to complete the exercise before the 14th general election as the EC had the power to continue its hearings, he said.