COMMENT | How malapportionment devalues your vote

COMMENT | With the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration, around 5.6 million new voters entered the electoral roll (of which 1.2 million new voters are ages 18 to 20), and this significantly altered the electorate composition of parliament and state (Dun) constituencies.

What is the current state of constituencies and what are the key considerations for a fair redelineation process? Did the malapportionment worsen?

One of the four criteria to ensure fair redelineation in Malaysia is to ensure that constituencies have nearly equal electorate sizes throughout the state.

Since population distribution is non-uniform and local community ties have to be considered, it is impossible for a constituency to have an equal population to its neighbours.

To prevent malapportionment, the Constitution ought to have clear limits on a constituency’s electorate size. Currently, the Constitution does not define clear limits for a constituency’s electorate size (hence, allowing malapportionment).

Since every constituency sends one elected representative each, uneven constituency sizes have resulted in discrimination against...