Kota Kinabalu: Sabah might get seven or more seats following the redrawing of election boundaries in the State. Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Vice President Japiril Suhaimin said there is a high possibility that new constituencies will be created under a proposal to create more new areas under the re-delineation exercise.He said this was revealed during a courtesy call on Election Commission (EC) Sabah Director Datuk Md Idrus Ismail, at his office, recently.
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It was not clear if they would be State or Parliament seats. Sabah now has 60 State and 25 Parliament seats."We paid a courtesy call to Idrus to get some answers on the status of the re-delineation exercise by the Commission for Sabah.
"He stated that a proposal to create seven new constituencies is history and most likely there will be a reduction or addition of a new area."Adding to the puzzle, Idrus also said that there is a great possibility of adding new areas to the election boundaries in Sabah," Japiril who is also the party's treasurer-general said in a statement on Friday.
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However, he said the re-delineation process shall be transparent and free from any hidden agenda.Japiril said the exercise to redraw electoral boundaries was supposed to be carried out once every eight years to cater to development and increase in the number of voters which was supposed to start in April last year.
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"Idrus said the new re-delineation exercise issue had to be stalled since April 2014 because the EC had to concentrate its attention on the delineation of 11 new areas in Sarawak state assembly which automatically will be dissolved in June 2016."Also, he said the delay was also due to objections from the Bersih NGO and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
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Therefore the EC is still waiting for a court decision before any decision is made," Japiril said.Also present in the group was SAPP vice president Dato Shuaib Mutalib and Organising Secretary Stephan Gaiman.
