The Sabah opposition coalition’s legal team’s chairman Maijol Mahap said by right, the prime minister should have submitted the report as soon as possible after receiving it.
“Prime Minister Najib Razak had a whole year in 2017 and about 100 days of parliamentary sittings to do so and under the Federal Constitution, he should have done it a long time ago,” he said.
The electoral redelineation process in Sabah was started in 2016 after the Sabah legislative assembly amended the state constitution to increase its membership from 60 to 73.
The amendment was later assented to by the head of state and gazetted as law later in 2016. There were no legal actions nor delays to the entire process.
Mahap added that it is clear the EC report has been ready to be submitted to the Dewan Rakyat for more than a year now.
“Since the state constitution now provides for 73 members and not 60, the EC must hold state elections for 73 seats as failure to do so will raise serious doubts of the constitutionality after the election,” he said.
Hence, he said Najib should carry out his constitutional duty to table the EC report during the current parliamentary sitting without further delay.
“If not, it would be seen as disrespecting the Sabah constitution, Sabah legislative assembly, Sabah head of state and the people of this state,” he said.