By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 29: The Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) has submitted seven objections to the Election Commission (EC) regarding its proposed electoral redelineation, advocating for five state constituencies each in Kuching City and Stampin to ensure a fairer distribution of voters.
Under the EC’s draft proposal – which seeks to expand Sarawak’s state seats from 82 to 99 – the number of constituencies in both Kuching City and Stampin would increase from three to four.
However, DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen argued that this would still create severe disparities, yielding an average of 29,000 to 30,000 voters per seat across Kuching City’s 116,679 electors and Stampin’s 120,000.
To achieve a more balanced representation, DAP is proposing five State constituencies under Kuching City (Pending, Padungan, Batu Lintang, Kenyalang, and Taman Jaya) and five under Stampin (Batu Kitang, Stakan, Batu Kawah, Kota Sentosa, and Batu Kawa). This would lower the average to roughly 24,000 voters per constituency—much closer to the target statewide average of 20,500 voters across Sarawak’s 2.03 million eligible electorate.
“The EC’s proposed boundaries create voter variance of up to 50 per cent between constituencies, ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 voters.
“This undermines the principle of ‘one person, one vote, one value’ and strays from constitutional guidelines that keep constituency sizes within a 20 per cent margin of 16,000 to 25,000 voters,” he said during a Facebook livestream following the submission at the EC’s office today.
Of the seven objections lodged today, five cover Kuching City and Stampin, whilst two target Bintulu and Tanjong Batu.
Chong, who is also Stampin MP, submitted his filing as a registered voter in Kuching City alongside the required minimum of 100 registered co-signers. His special assistant and DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) deputy chief Su Tian Ren separately filed an objection challenging the proposed boundaries for Batu Kitang.
Moving forward, DAP will await an EC public hearing to present its counter-proposals.
He noted that expanding the State legislature to 99 seats requires a constitutional amendment passed by a recorded two-thirds majority of at least 112 MPs in Parliament, though it remains uncertain whether the redelineation will be completed before the next State election. — DayakDaily
