Thomas Fann, chairman of electoral reform group Engage said there was absolutely no justification for adding more seats in Sarawak, which he said was already among the most over-represented state assemblies in the country.

“The average number of registered voters for each Sarawak state seat is 23,696 based on the 2022 electoral roll.

“For comparison, Selangor with 3.6 million voters has only 56 state seats, giving it an average of 65,676 voters – 2.8 times more than Sarawak.

“To add another 17 state seats, bringing the total to 99 seats in Sarawak, would mean bringing the average per seat to a mere 19,627 voters. That means it is only one-third that of Selangor’s average. In other words, it costs the Sarawak government three times as much to serve its citizens as it does for Selangor,” the former Bersih chief said.

Fann questioned whether the new seats would address under-representation in urban areas or simply entrench existing imbalances.

“The bigger issue is whether the additional seats would be allocated to the 24 large constituencies in the urban areas that are under-represented such as Senadin, Dudong, Tupong and Pelawan, or to the already very over-represented small seats such as Gedong, Sadong Jaya, Pelagus and Kalaka.

He warned that if the Election Commission (EC) continued with its past practices, the redelineation exercise would only worsen existing malapportionment.

“This would clearly violate the guiding principles found in Section 2(c) of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution that requires all constituencies within a state to be approximately equal,” he said.

Fann also dismissed the notion that more state seats would automatically lead to more parliamentary seats.

“It is fallacious to believe that increasing state seats would lead to an increase in parliamentary seats, as that is determined by an amendment to Article 46 of the Federal Constitution which requires a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Election Commission deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the decision by the Sarawak legislative assembly appeared to be politically motivated.

“To me, it is driven by the desire to pave the way for the creation of more parliamentary seats for Sarawak when the EC conducts a new delineation exercise next year,” he said.

He pointed out that it was the EC’s prerogative to decide when to begin the redelineation process.

“If the state assembly has already increased the number of state seats, obviously the EC will have to draw and adjust the boundaries of seats and needs to create additional seats for Parliament to meet the numbers agreed to in MA63,” he said, referring to the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Wan Ahmad also highlighted the financial burden the move would place on the state.

“An increase in the number of seats will have big financial implications for the state. Budgets for 17 new seats, development budgets, infrastructure, etc., will increase tremendously.”

However, he acknowledged one possible benefit of the move.

“One positive point is the opportunity for quick economic development for the new areas.

The Sarawak legislative assembly passed a bill to increase the number of seats in the assembly from 82 to 99 in a special sitting on Monday.

The bill to increase the number of state seats was extensively debated by government backbenchers and its two sole opposition members.

The bill was tabled by tourism, creative industry and performing arts minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.