KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat has not decided whether to endorse the Election Commission’s (EC) proposal to increase parliamentary seats as part of the upcoming boundary redelineation exercise.

DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke said the opposition pact — comprising PKR, PAS and his party — had yet to decide on the matter.

“We want to look at EC’s proposal first before making any decision. But I have stressed in my parliamentary debate last week that we will not agree to any additional seats being created if the EC does not adhere to the ‘one man, one vote and one value’ principle,” said the Seremban MP at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Last week, former Bersih co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan called on all political parties not to be taken in by the promises of the EC to hold a fair redelineation of electoral boundaries.

The equal legislative representation or one-man, one-vote concept was recommended by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform in 2012, and touted by Pakatan parties and electoral reform groups as a fairer representation of voters compared with the current system.

Loke said Pakatan was committed to defend the interest of Malaysians and would not allow rival Barisan Nasional (BN) to increase seats at its “whims and fancies”.

“DAP will oppose any EC proposal if the upcoming redelineation exercise shows any signs of unfairness or leaning towards BN’s interests,” he said.

The redelineation exercise is long overdue as the last one was in March 2003. It was supposed to be done in 2011, but was deferred due to the 13th general election last year. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 13, 2014.