Electoral watchdog Bersih will hold a demonstration outside Parliament against the redelineation process next Wednesday, the day the report on the Election Commission’s (EC) redelineation exercise is scheduled to be tabled.

At the same time, its members intend to hand over a memorandum to Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia on this issue.

“We must stand up and defend the right to elect a government that is the people’s choice.

“The blatant misuse of power and unchecked violations to the constitution cannot be allowed to continue.

“We want to show the Parliament that this is not right and calling voters to object the tabling of the report and it should not be accepted by MPs.

“We are urging and calling all rakyat and voters to join us at Parliament to voice our protest against the non-transparent process conducted by the EC,” said acting Bersih chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari in a press conference today.

He pointed out that there are still court cases pending over the EC’s redelineation exercise, and yet the report is about to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

“The EC has displayed extreme bad faith and lack of respect for voters and their rights by submitting the report to the prime minister while cases are pending before the courts,” Shahrul said.

He also claimed that the EC failed to hear objections filed by many members of the public, in conformity with the Federal Constitution.

The constitution also gives the EC two years between giving public notice of the proposed delineation and submitting a report to the prime minister, he said.

The EC still has about six more months within this time frame to complete its work, he pointed out, as the EC first published notice of the redelineation exercise on Sept 15, 2016.

“In view of the cases before the courts and the violation of voters’ rights to have their objections heard, the prime minister and the speaker should immediately withdraw the report from Parliament.

“The speaker should not allow the tabling and debate of the report until all legal challenges are heard in court and decided by the judiciary,” Shahrul added.