KUCHING: The proposed 17 additional Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) seats will not be ready for use in the next state election, said Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Seri Ramlan Harun.
He said the term of the Sarawak DUN would expire in February, while the redelineation process still had to go through several stages before the recommendations could be finalised and submitted to Parliament.
“Based on the work process that we have to go through, I do not expect us to be able to use this redelineation study for the next state election. We will not make it in time,” he said.
He said this to reporters after visiting the exhibition venues for the proposed Sarawak State Constituency Redelineation Review at Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) lobby here, today.
He said the display would run from Sept 1 to 30, after which the EC would assess all representations received from the public.
He said the hearing process was expected to be conducted in October, with subsequent processes to continue before the recommendations were submitted to Parliament.
He said the completion period would, however, depend on the nature of the objections or views received, as some matters might require more detailed consideration.
“If there are no objections, or if the objections we receive are straightforward and can be resolved quickly, God willing, we can settle them quickly.
“But if the objections we receive require a more detailed study, we will need some time to assess them,” he said.
In July last year, the Sarawak Legislative Assembly passed a Bill to add 17 new state seats, increasing the total number of seats from 82 to 99, subject to the redelineation process by the EC.
