Malaysia to table electoral map changes next week ahead of polls

  • The Malaysian government will table a report proposing controversial changes to electoral boundaries in parliament on 28 Mar 18, with the nation’s 14th general elections expected to be called shortly after.
  • House of Representatives speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia told Members of Parliament on 22 Mar 18 they would be given copies of the redelineation report by the Election Commission ahead of its tabling.
  • However, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has reversed his decision, within hours, to disallow MPs from reading and taking home the report that proposes the redelineation of electoral areas, after studying the standing orders.
  • Pandikar reminded MPs that the report could still not be published by 28 Mar 18.
  • The DAP’s Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming accused the speaker of abusing his powers.
  • “This is another way the speaker has been abusing his power to stop the public and MPs from debating and talking about the report in and out of Parliament. This is an issue of great importance to the nation,” he said at a press conference in Parliament here on 22 Mar 18.
  • The recommendations that made it into the final report are embargoed. However, analysts say the proposals that were publicly displayed by the Election Commission at the early stages would give ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) an advantage.
  • Ibrahim Suffian from the Merdeka Centre had told Channel NewsAsia the recommendations could even help BN win back the two-thirds majority it first lost in 2008.
  • Electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 and opposition MPs have been critical of the proposed changes, saying they give BN an unfair advantage by packing more voters into opposition seats and making BN seats smaller, giving the ruling coalition an easier shot at winning them.

External Link : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/malaysia-to-table-electoral-map-changes-next-week-ahead-of-polls-10065930

External Link : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2018/03/22/parliament-speaker-makes-u-turn-on-redelineation-report-but/

22-Mar-2018