These amendments include making sure the number of voters is almost equal among the constituencies in the state and that every elected member should only represent one administrative district.

Political scientist Wong Chin Huat, who wrote a report titled “The Study of State Assembly Constituencies for Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan” for Bersih 2.0, said research had shown there was severe malapportionment of state constituencies in all three states.

“There is a need for these states to add more seats to the state assembly,” he said during a virtual event.

He recommended that the Penang government add three state seats, and Selangor and Negeri Sembilan one each.

Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann said these reform-minded state governments should take the lead in addressing electoral boundary issues if the federal government was unwilling to do so.

He expressed his concerns that the problems of malapportionment would become even more serious when the lowering of the voting age to 18 and automatic voter registration (AVR) are implemented as the youths are predominantly living in the urban areas for education and work.

“Currently, the number of voters in urban constituencies is already much higher than those in rural constituencies, some by three to four times.

“The disparity may increase to six to eight times after Undi18 and AVR come into force,” he said.