adminKUCHING: There is no proposal from the Election Commission (EC) regarding the addition of Sarawak Parliamentary seats so far because the Constitutional process required for that purpose has not yet been completed, said Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
He said the Federal Government’s agreement in principle to increase the number of parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak was only the initial step in the constitutional process that needed to be implemented.
“The composition of the Dewan Rakyat is determined under Article 46 of the Federal Constitution. Any additional seats for Sabah and Sarawak require a constitutional amendment approved by a two-thirds majority in Parliament.”
“After the amendment is approved, the EC will implement the redelineation process in accordance with Article 113 and the Thirteenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution,” he said when answering a question from Chieng Jin Ek (GPS-Bukit Assek) at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today on why the EC has not yet submitted a proposal to increase the parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak.
Sharifah Hasidah said no additional parliamentary seats could be created until the constitutional process was completed, and according to her, this was the basis for the EC’s previous statement that there was no proposal to increase parliamentary constituencies in Sarawak.
“As long as this process has not been completed, no additional parliamentary seats will be legally created.”
“The EC statement and the Federal Government’s agreement in principle both refer to different stages in the process,” he said.
Sharifah Hasidah also explained that the proposed increase in parliamentary seats is different from the expansion of Sarawak’s constituency, which will increase the number of state assembly seats from 82 to 99.
He said the addition of state assembly seats had been approved in 2025, while the EC was currently conducting a study on the redelineation of electoral constituencies in Sarawak.
The public exhibition for the redelineation study took place from 1 to 30 Sept 2026.
“However, the EC has informed that the new DUN constituencies may not be completed in time to be implemented in the upcoming Sarawak State Election,” he said.
— BERNAMA
