KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — Barisan Nasional will create panel to consolidate member parties’ views on the Election Commission’s proposed redelineation, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.
This committee will compile the diverse opinions for a counter proposal to the EC, said the prime minister and BN chairman.
“There are many effects [from the redelineation], various aspects need to be taken into consideration, therefore we decided that all BN component parties will consolidate our views through a committee that will be chaired by the BN secretary-general and be made up of all the secretaries-general of BN parties to standardise BN’s counter proposal,” he told reporters after chairing the BN supreme council meeting today.
“Hopefully we will come to a decision that is fair to all parties involved.”
He said the BN components have various objections to the proposed redelineation, and stressed that there were also dissatisfaction from Umno.
Opposition lawmakers have alleged that the redelineation was designed to favour Umno.
“It would not be right to say that Umno accepts [the proposal]. No. Even Umno has many views against this initial proposal brought forward by the EC,” he said.
The EC is proposing to redraw the boundaries of 12 parliamentary and 34 state constituencies in the peninsula and create 13 new state seats in Sabah.
The move was met with criticism not only from the usual sources in the opposition, but also some in the ruling BN including MCA and Gerakan that voiced concerns over the apparent segregation of voters along ethnic lines.
