Additional parliamentary seats for Sabah, S'wak after GE16 - Fadillah

The implementation of additional parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak will only be finalised after the 16th general election, said Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof.

He said this is because several legal aspects need to be reviewed before the necessary amendments can be made in the Dewan Rakyat.

“It can’t be implemented in time (for GE16). So far, we haven’t set a specific timeline for implementing these additional seats, but we’re allowing time for them (Attorney-General’s Chambers, and Sabah and Sarawak State Attorney-General’s Chambers) to discuss the legal aspects.

“In the first quarter of next year we’ll receive reports from the three legal advisers to be presented in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council (MTPMA63) meeting,” he said when met by reporters at the Takaful Goes to the Village Carnival at the Kampung Semariang Batu Multipurpose Hall in Kuching today.

He said the Election Commission has only completed its study on the matter in Sarawak.

The issue of claims for additional parliamentary seats was discussed in the MTPMA63 meeting in September, chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The last constituency re-delineation exercise involving parliamentary seats was in 2006, and Sabah and Sarawak now hold 25 and 31 seats respectively for a combined 25 percent of the 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

- Bernama

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