KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 8): The redelineation process for Sarawak has commenced this year, according to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh.

Ramkarpal added that Sabah will follow suit in 2025, and Peninsular Malaysia in 2026.

"The redelineation process will allow the Election Commission (EC) to conduct its studies over two-year periods, following which the findings will be submitted to the prime minister," said Ramkarpal in response to Ganabatirau Veraman (Pakatan Harapan-Klang) during the oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.

Ramkarpal stated that in the redelineation process, the EC will consider various factors, including the appropriateness of the proportionality of each constituency.

"For instance, the Bangi constituency has over 300,000 voters, while the Putrajaya constituency has only 34,000 voters. The EC will take this into account when the redelineation process begins."

According to Article 113(2)(ii) of the Federal Constitution, the EC can conduct the redelineation exercise once every eight years from the completion of the previous exercise.

Sarawak's legislative assembly approved the current constituency borders on Dec 3, 2015. Currently, Sarawak has 82 constituencies.

Meanwhile, Ramkarpal mentioned that the total voter turnout rate of the 15th general election (GE15) stood at 74.7%, which was lower than the 82.3% rate of GE14 and 84.8% for GE13.

"The low turnout rate was due to a higher number of voters resulting from automatic voter registration, and the eligibility age lowered to 18 years old. In terms of numbers, GE15 recorded a higher number of voters than the previous GEs," said Ramkarpal.

Ramkarpal emphasised that the Election Committee is committed to increasing voter awareness and the voter turnout rate in future elections, and among the efforts is sharing election process information through online platforms.

"Since GE15, we have already witnessed 11 elections, including by-elections, and the Kemaman by-election is coming soon. This could potentially lead to voter fatigue. Thus, the EC is doubling its efforts [to increase voter awareness]," added Ramkarpal.

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