Getting Boundaries Right for Selangor.pdf
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The document discusses the redelineation process in Selangor, focusing on constitutional articles, malapportionment, and ideal size for the state assembly. It highlights the challenges faced in allocating polling centres and ensuring equitable representation following the implementation of Undi 18, which resulted in significant voter growth. The recommendations include correcting seat counts and improving polling district design to enhance electoral fairness and representation in Selangor.
Getting Boundaries Right for Selangor.pdf
- 1. Getting Boundaries Right for Selangor Research slides by Tindak Malaysia 19th April 2022 Danesh Prakash Chacko
- 2. Tableof Contents ▪ Constitutional Articles in relation to Redelineation ▪ Ideal DUN Size for Selangor? ▪ Malapportionment (before and after Undi 18) ▪ Polling Centre: Available or Shortage? ▪ Moving Forward (References to alternate proposals) EMPHASIS: GET SEAT COUNT RIGHT AND FIX POLLING CENTRE MESS FIRST
- 3. Constitutional Articlesfor Redelineation ▪ What can trigger Redelineation?
- 4. Constitutional Articlesfor Redelineation ▪ Relevant Articles/Schedules: Article 2, 46,113, 114,115,116,117 and 13th Schedule ▪ For States, refer to state constitution. For Selangor, Chapter 5,Article 62 ▪ Previously, there was an association of seat count of DUN with the Federal seat count via 8th Schedule (4) (2) of the Federal Constitution (Deleted in 1983) ▪ 9th Schedule Item 6 (a) clearly places Elections “and all matters connected therewith” in the Federal Lists ▪ Alternate view (from Prof Gurdial Singh Nijar) – DUN has the powers to provide ancillary provisions to the State Constitution in relation to the make-up of the Assembly ▪ There is no explicit prohibitions in Constitution (particularly Section 4 of 8th Schedule) for geographical and numerical definitions for the DUN
- 5. Overview ofConstitutional Articles/Schedule(forRedelineation) CONSTITUTIONAL ARTICLE/SCHEDULE OUTCOMES OF THE ARTICLE/SCHEDULE ARTICLE 2 Admission of Other States (i.e. Sabah, Sarawak) Alteration of State Boundaries (i.e. Federal Territories) ARTICLE 46 Stipulate total Federal (Parliament) seat count and allocation for individual states.This is for Dewan Rakyat seats ARTICLE 113 Role of Election Commission High Level rules for Redelineation Process. Relates to Article 2, 46, 13th Schedule and State Constitution ARTICLE 114 Independence of Election Commission
- 6. Overview ofConstitutional Articles/Schedule(forRedelineation) CONSTITUTIONAL ARTICLE/SCHEDULE OUTCOMES OF THE ARTICLE/SCHEDULE ARTICLE 115 Appointment of two federal officers to advice EC with the knowledge of population distribution and topography for redelineation ARTICLE 116 Single Member Territorial Representation for Federal seats ARTICLE 117 Single Member Territorial Representation for DUN (State) seats 13th SCHEDULE Guiding principles of Redelineation (drawing the boundaries, redelineation objection process, boundary approvals)
- 7. Overview ofRelevant Laws(forRedelineation) OTHER ACTS/REGULATIONS OUTCOMES OF THE ACTS/REGULATIONS ELECTION ACT 1958 PART III, Section 7 (subsection 1) Each constituency is divided into unique polling district (Daerah Mengundi) and each polling district has one or more polling centres ELECTION ACT 1958 PART III, Section 7 (subsection 2) EC has the powers to alter the polling districts when it is required (Refer to early 2016 experience) ELECTION ACT 1958 PART III, Section 7 (subsection 3) Unless needed, each polling district will have one polling centre (Pusat Mengundi) ELECTION ACT 1958 PART III, Section 7 (subsection 4) EC has the powers to replace the allocation of polling centres in subsection (1)
- 8. Overview ofRelevant Laws OTHER ACTS/REGULATIONS OUTCOMES OF THE ACTS/REGULATIONS ELECTION ACT 1958 PART III, SECTION 9 (SUBSECTION 2) Electoral Rolls for Parliamentary and State Constituencies are combined into one register ELECTIONS (REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS) REGULATIONS 2002 PART II, REGULATION 3 (subregulations (1) (2)) Parliamentary constituency is composed a unit of state constituency and polling district. Parliamentary constituency is a registration area ELECTIONS (REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS) REGULATIONS 2002 PART II, REGULATION 3 (subregulations (3) (4)) Each polling district serves a separate registration unit within the registration area.There would be separate letter or numbers or both for the unit ELECTIONS (REGISTRATION OF ELECTORS) REGULATIONS 2002 PART II, REGULATION 7 & 8 Handling Electoral Roll update in light of boundary changes. Chief Registrar has the powers to make roll changes in relation to new boundaries
- 9. Constitutional Articlesfor Redelineation ▪ Other key Facts ▪ Parliament DETERMINES and APPORTIONS Federal Seat Count and EC DELINEATE boundaries ▪ Parliamentary apportionment process is not based on mathematics. Continued growth of State Federal Seat Allocation with the exception of 1960 redelineation (cancelled), 1971-3 redelineation (discarded) and 1974 redelineation (only for Selangor) ▪ State DUN DETERMINES DUN Seat Count and EC DELINEATE boundaries ▪ Previously, State DUN were partially constrained by the total DUN Seat count due to principle of simple multiple. Up to 1983, DUN Seat Count was to be the same or multiple of Federal Seat Count for the State ▪ We will explore the relevance of principle of simple multiple
- 10. Constitutional Articlesfor Redelineation ▪ 13th Schedule (Quick Facts) ▪ 2 (a) - Federal and DUN seats shall not cross state boundaries. DUN Seats not to cross parent Federal seat (HONOURED) ▪ 2 (b) - Federal and DUN seats ought to have enough facilities for voter registration and polling machinery (VIOLATED) ▪ 2 (c) - Number of electors among seats in a state shall be approximately equal with exception of rural areas which face issues in reaching electors, where a weightage of area ought to be given (VIOLATED) ▪ 2 (d) - Maintenance of Local Ties and consideration of any inconveniences to change of boundaries (VIOLATED)
- 11. Contextualization ofSeatIncrease Redelineation Report submitted to Prime Minister (2018) Selangor DUN voted to increase DUN size (anytime now till 2026) EC does redelineation review basing on 113 (3a) (i) – Modifications to 13th Schedule can be done (WARNING OR OPPORTUNITY!) EC must complete the review not more than 2 years after the amendment of seat count made YEAR 0 YEAR X YEAR X+2 YEAR 8 2026 YEAR 8+Y EC does redelineation review basing on 113 (3B) – Follow 13th Schedule Selangor DUN voted to increase DUN size from 2026
- 12. IdealDunSize forSelangor– Doesitexist? ▪ The issue stems from the question what is ideal size for Parliament: ▪ For Reduction (use Wyoming Rule – Perlis* as the base): 128 seats for Dewan Rakyat ▪ For increase (use cube root law): 319 seats for Dewan Rakyat ▪ For increase (use Wyoming Rule – Labuan as the base): 327 seats for Dewan Rakyat * We assume Perlis to have one seat ▪ Other question: Should the DUN have odd number size? – This is a question of governance, not electoral ▪ If one were to retain electoral system, 222 Federal seat count and use 2021 electorate size as the basis of Federal seat count (with consideration of Sabah & Sarawak allocation), Selangor should have 33 parliamentary seats, not 22
- 13. IdealDunSize forSelangor– Doesitexist? ▪ Putting aside the Federal Seat Count for Selangor, we should explore the principle of simple multiple as the guiding light for DUN Size for Selangor ▪ Let’s imagine each orange represent Federal Seat. Slices represent State Seat. Number of Oranges are fixed
- 14. IdealDunSize forSelangor– Doesitexist? ▪ Selangor DUN can opt for an increase of 10 seats (56 + 10 (new seats) = 66). 66 is a multiple of 22 Federal Seats ▪ If we adopt the principle of simple multiple (pre dating 1983), you lay the foundation of equalization of Federal and State Seats
- 15. IdealDunSize forSelangor– Doesitexist? ▪ Current Problem: Selangor has 22 Federal Seats and 56 DUN Seats ▪ If we don’t get seat count right for urbanized Selangor, we lose the rights to complain about malapportionment
- 16. Ideal DunSizefor Selangor –Doesit exist? ▪ Based on 2021 Sinar Harian report, Selangor ADUN Monthly Salary is RM 11 250 ▪ Selangor 2021 Estimated Total Revenue (Tax + Non Tax + Other Revenues): RM 2.05 BILLION ▪ If one goes with 66 DUN Size, minimum salary amount to be spent would be = (RM 11 250 * 12) * 66 = RM 8 910 000 Annually ▪ Barely 1% of Selangor Revenue, if we go with 66 DUN Size. Most is 1- 2% inclusive allowances, salary adjustment for Exco etc ▪ When Redelineation exercise was done for Sabah, it costed us RM 909,637 (Tsu Chong, 2021) ▪ Counter argument: ▪ Difficult to reduce seat count ▪ No guarantee that EC will equalize Federal seats together with DUN seats ▪ Emphasis: Redelineation exercise is not cheap and it must be grounded with right seat count ▪ There is nothing economical either with seat count increase or doing redelineation
- 17. IdealDunSize forSelangor– Doesitexist? ▪ Addressing Counter Arguments ▪ (a) Difficult to reduce seat counts (56 to 66) ▪ If one were to increase to 66 seats, there will be greater resistance for any reduction ▪ Malaysia or Selangor may reach a stage of choosing appropriate representation number in future ▪ (b) No guarantee that EC will equalize Federal and DUN seats ▪ This is correct concern as EC did not bother doing much equalization when principle of multiple was intact ▪ However, getting a wrong seat count will legitimize EC to do malapportionment in one of the tiers or at worst, both tiers
- 18. QuantifyingtheImpactofUndi18 forSelangor ▪ Key Statistics ▪ On Average, a polling district (DM) grown by 38% ▪ Biggest addition of new voters for a DM was Taman Pinggiran Putra (estimated 10754 new voters) ▪ Only 5 out 945 DMs experienced negative growth
- 19. QuantifyingtheImpactofUndi18 forSelangor ▪ Key Statistics ▪ A rural DM grown by 27.6% ▪ A Semi urban DM grown by 37.2% ▪ An urban DM grown by 40.5% * City/ Town areas as per JPBD’s definition
- 20. Malapportionment inSelangor(State Seats) ▪ Quick Overview of Malapportionment in Selangor (Dec 2020) – Current Deviation from Electoral Quota (EQ – Average) Number of State Seats Below 85% 18 85% to 100% (Ideal) 7 101% to 115% (Ideal) 9 Above 115 % 22 ▪ Quick Overview of Malapportionment in Selangor (Dec 2021) – After Undi18 Deviation from Electoral Quota (EQ – Average) Number of State Seats Below 85% 19 85% to 100% (Ideal) 8 101% to 115% (Ideal) 9 Above 115 % 20
- 21. Malapportionment inSelangor(Federal Seats) ▪ Quick Overview of Malapportionment in Selangor (Dec 2020) – Current Deviation from Electoral Quota (EQ – Average) Number of Federal Seats Below 85% 5 85% to 100% (Ideal) 8 101% to 115% (Ideal) 1 Above 115% 8 ▪ Quick Overview of Malapportionment in Selangor (Dec 2021) – After Undi18 Deviation from Electoral Quota (EQ – Average) Number of Federal Seats Below 85% 5 85% to 100% (Ideal) 8 101% to 115% (Ideal) 2 Above 115% 7
- 22. Malapportionment inSelangor ▪ New DUN Seats joining the malapportioned size club and those who join the ideal size club Deviation from Electoral Quota Name of State Seats Below 85% N.34 Bukit Gasing 85 – 115% (Ideal) N.18 Hulu Kelang, N.35 Kampung Tunku, N.41 Batu Tiga Above 115 % N.50 Kota Kemuning Implications of Undi 18 for Malapportionment • Before Undi18, Kinrara (Largest DUN seat) was 4.8 times bigger than Sungai Air Tawar (Smallest DUN seat) • After Undi 18, Kinrara (Largest DUN seat) was 5.9 times bigger than Sungai Air Tawar (Smallest DUN seat) • Generally speaking (referring to EQ), those who are undersized became more undersized.Those who are oversized became more oversized • With the implementation of Undi18, Kapar moved from oversized parliamentary seat to one who is equalized • Bangi went from 4.68 times bigger than Sabak Bernam (Dec 2020) to 5.79 times bigger than Sabak Bernam (Dec 2021)
- 23. Malapportionment inSelangor In 2016, there was variation of internet access that is quite apparent in Selangor. By 2019, all districts have 80% or more of its households having internet subscription. One should argue for +/-15% as there is no difficulty in reaching electors!
- 24. Malapportionment inSelangor(micro version) Root Cause of Malapportionment – Too much variation in DM Electorate Size. 125 (Kampung Lubuk Jaya) to 20550 (Taman Pinggiran Putra) 5 5
- 25. PollingCentres: Availableor Shortage First Step to fix unfair redelineation is to address 13th Schedule 2 (b). Was Dun Bukit Gasing drawn in a manner where there is insufficient polling centres.Why voters of Two DMs had to vote in other constituency?
- 26. PollingCentres: Availableor Shortage Some Key Statistics for Polling District Design for Selangor • Out of 945 Daerah Mengundis (DMs), • 15 DMs have elector less than 500 (Too Small) • 469 DMs have electors between 500 and 3302 • 330 DMs have electors between 3302 and 6605 (inclusive EC’s 2006 Upper Limit of 3850 electors) • 131 DMs have electors greater than 6605 electors (Too big) • Ideally, a DM should house a school (SK, SJK, SMK, SMJK) as schools are conducive for polling. Following are the reasons • Effective partition of salurans • Secrecy of elections is preserved • Community Centres, Halls, Kindergartens etc should consider as back-up. NOT the main polling centre for Daerah Mengundi • In Selangor, around 401 out 945 DMs were drawn without a school as potential polling centre facility • From those 401 DMs, 30 were rural DMs, 74 were semi urban DMs and 297 urban DMs. Hence, it is no surprise to see what happened in Bukit Gasing
- 27. PollingCentres: Availableor Shortage • Summary of school distribution by polling districts Number of Electors (Ranges) Urban Semi Urban Rural Below 500 3 1 3 500 - 3302 160 59 26 3302 - 6605 100 12 1 Above 6605 34 2 0 Presence of no School within Polling District 131 DMs that have electors with more than 6605 electors • 36 has no in house schools • 41 has ONE SCHOOL • 54 has more than one school within the polling districts Additional Reasons why schools should be considered as polling centres (Refer to Elections Act 1958 Part V Section 14) (in BM) - “Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya boleh menggunakan dengan percuma sebagai pusat mengundi mana-mana sekolah atau mana mana bahagian sesuatu sekolah yang menerima bantuan, atau yang berkenaan dengannya bantuan diberikan, daripada wang yang diperuntukkan oleh mana-mana Kerajaan dalam Malaysia, atau mana- mana bangunan atau premis awam yang lain atau mana mana bahagiannya.”
- 28. Moving Forward ▪ Get seat count right ▪ Fix polling centre allocation mess (top priority from now to GE15) ▪ Aim for +/-15% deviation from Electoral Quota for all Federal and DUN Seats for Selangor for now. Subsequently, bring it down to 5% by 2030 ▪ Place every DUN within one local council so long equalization is attained ▪ Our 66 DUN proposal can be found here: https://arcg.is/1PeTfm (may be updated if new electoral figures are found)
- 29. Moving Forward(For PollingDistricts) ▪ A polling district in Selangor and anywhere in Malaysia should be: ▪ Home to Two in-house polling stations ▪ Respect local council/district boundaries (no crossing over such boundaries) and respect micro local ties ▪ Have an elector population of 2 – 4% of State Parliamentary Electoral Quota. After Undi18, polling districts should have 3302 to 6605 electors ▪ Correct association of voters (i.e. localities) to polling districts ▪ Meaningful names that represent the area
- 30. References ▪ Chan,T.C.(2021).Improving Access to Voting in Malaysia. Bersih 2.0. ▪ Wong, C.H. (2021). Equal and Effective Representation by way of State-triggered redelimitation: A Feasibility Analysis for Penang. ▪ https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/142228/BERITA/ Nasional/BeBerapa-elaun-wakil-rakyat-kita ▪ https://www.slideshare.net/daneshchacko/redelineation- in-the-age-of-undi-18 ▪ https://www.slideshare.net/daneshchacko/tindak- malaysia-2021-training-3-understanding-redelineation- from-law-perspective ▪ https://www.slideshare.net/daneshchacko/tindak- malaysia-2021-training-4-case-studies-for-redelineation ▪ http://dewan.selangor.gov.my/wp- content/uploads/2021/11/BUKU_ANGGARAN_BELANJAWA N_NEGERI_SELANGOR_TAHUN_2022.pdf