Parliamentary seat distribution must be premised on fairness and not shaped only by political demands, says former Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.
Last week, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had agreed in principle to consider increasing the number of parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak.
Wan Ahmad agreed that Sabah and Sarawak may be entitled to more representation under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), but ruled out increasing their share to one-third of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
He said the Federal Constitution’s 13th Schedule lays out four main principles that guide the EC in any delineation exercise, with demographics – population size and number of electors – being the key consideration.
Citing Section 2(c) of…