KUCHING: There is no proposal from the Election Commission (EC) yet to increase Sarawak's parliamentary seats, as the constitutional process required for the exercise has not been completed.
Deputy Minister in the Premier's Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said the Federal Government's agreement in principle to expand Sabah and Sarawak's parliamentary representation is only the beginning of a constitutional process.
"The composition of the Dewan Rakyat is set by Article 46 of the Federal Constitution. Any increase for Sabah and Sarawak requires a constitutional amendment passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
"Delimitation is then carried out by the EC under Article 113 and the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution," she said when responding to a question from Chieng Jin Ek (GPS-Bukit Assek) at the State Legislative Assembly today on why the EC has no proposal yet to increase Sarawak's parliamentary constituencies.
Sharifah Hasidah said no additional parliamentary seats can be established until the constitutional process is completed, explaining the EC's prior statement that there is no proposal yet to increase Sarawak's parliamentary constituencies.
"Until these steps are complete, no additional parliamentary seats legally exist. That statement and the Federal Government's agreement in principle refer to different stages of the same process," she said.
Hasidah also clarified that the proposed increase in parliamentary representation was distinct from Sarawak's state constituency expansion, which would increase the number of state seats from 82 to 99.
The increase in seats was approved by the state legislative assembly last year, with the EC currently conducting the Sarawak redelineation review.
The public inspection for the redelineation exercise was scheduled from Sept 1 to 30 this year.
However, the EC has indicated that the new state constituencies might not be ready in time for the next Sarawak state election.
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