Bersih hit out at the Election Commission's (EC) response to a serious omission in the new delineation maps today saying the present information serves to obfuscate the process.

In a statement today, Bersih's steering committee said the EC's response to their complaint on Tuesday "leaves a lot to be desired".

"EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusoff (left) did not appear to understand our major contention that the maps did not feature boundaries of polling districts, an essential piece of information that can help voters ascertain whether there is gerrymandering," said Bersih.

"And we are certain, based on the EC’s record, that there would be plenty of that monkey business in its proposed electoral boundaries for Sarawak."

The coalition for clean and fair elections explained the information that the EC said was already included, was missing from the maps and placed elsewhere in a booklet that still did not show the boundaries.

"His claim that all details are in a booklet made available where the new electoral maps are being displayed is another deflection, for the details are not in the form of maps that show the boundaries of polling districts, but merely a list of polling districts in each constituency and the number of electors in them.

"This still doesn't help a potential objector identify where these polling districts are located with a constituency, to make a meaningful objection," said the group headed by chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah

Public consultation 'farce'

Hence, Bersih's steering committee said, by obscuring the polling district boundaries from the public, the EC is “making a farce” of the people's constitutional s.

“While we are happy to hear that the chairperson reportedly said they will be uploaded onto the EC’s website soon, again, however, we ask: how useful are such maps that do not show the polling district boundaries?” the committee said.

The Sarawak delineation exercise has come under increasing criticism, for example with Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming today questioning the rationale behind the EC's decision to allow parliamentary seats to remain the same while increasing the number of state seats.

“One cannot help but suspect that the real reason why there were no parliamentary seats added is because this would require a constitutional amendment at the parliamentary level where the BN does not possess a two-thirds majority,” he said in a statement today.

He said “the whole Sarawak delimitation exercise may be delayed” if the proposal gets stuck at the parliamentary level.

Ong said the increase in state seats without its logical increase in parliamentary seats was suspicious and asked if this was an attempt to "bulldoze" the state seat delineation through.

He said this is a clear indication that the EC was not complying with democratic principles, but was instead bowing to political expediency.

Sarawak is expected to hold its state election latest by 2016.

'EC bulldozing through new S'wak state seats?'