He said any review on the status of the 13 new state seats should include this matter.
He said as it stands now, some Chinese-majority seats have more than 50,000 voters but count for only one seat.
“On the other hand, in certain rural areas, there are fewer than 10,000 voters per seat. This must be put right.
“There are certain areas that need more seats. Besides, it is a constitutional requirement.
“That is why I said, other than reviewing the Election Commission’s (EC) recommendations on additional seats, it is possible to add more,” Wong said.
However, the Tanjung Aru assemblyman, who is also the state agriculture and food industries minister, was unable to propose a suitable number of seats but insisted it could be more than the 13 proposed by the EC.
Speaking at the agriculture and food industry ministry’s Hari Raya open house here today, Wong said the party had not had the time or opportunity to discuss the matter.
“However, personally, I think there is a need to review the matter.”
The 13 new Sabah state seats were gazetted in 2016 but former prime minister Najib Razak did not table the proposal in Parliament although there were at least three parliamentary sittings.
The new seats have already been approved in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.
The failure to table the proposal in Parliament led to several local opposition parties filing a case against Najib and the EC.
Warisan president Shafie Apdal even stated that it was unconstitutional for the EC to hold polls for only 60 seats, instead of 73, in the May 9 general election.
Former Sabah state secretary Sukarti Wakiman issued a statement on the issue prior to the general election, stating that the state government was seeking to increase the number of parliamentary seats for Sabah, not just its state seats, hence the delay in tabling the new seats in Parliament.
Include Sabah’s 13 new seats, says Warisan ahead of Dewan Rakyat debate
Sabah: We want new state, federal seats tabled together in Dewan Rakyat