JOHOR BARU, Dec 2 — The Johor government does not rule out the possibility that there will be a redelineation of electoral boundaries in the state, following the implementation of Undi18 and the automatic voter registration that will come into effect on December 15.
Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad said the likelihood of a redelineation exercise happening will mainly be due to the large number of young voters after the Undi18’s implementation.
“The number of voters will increase with the automatic voter registration and it will definitely have an impact on certain areas.
“Hopefully, we will not see a need to have a redelineation of electoral boundaries, but it is among the options for a solution to the increase in new voters,” said Hasni at the sidelines of the JohorPay application and Johor Project Monitoring System (JoMS) at the Thistle Hotel here today.
He was commenting on the implementation of Undi18 and the automatic voter registration federal gazette.
Hasni said what was important is that the state government will need to be proactive to overcome the increase in new voters.
He explained that its implementation will in some ways have an effect on the respective elected representatives’ duties.
“A special committee, under the state assembly, will study the impact of the automatic voter registration within the constituencies in the state.
“The committee will look into the elected representative’s need for a separate allocation to better service their respective constituencies following the increase in new voters,” said Hasni.
Hasni, who is also the Benut assemblyman, said that the special committee will comprise representatives of each political party to look into the issues related to the Undi18 implementation.
“The Johor government will call for a special state assembly session, which will be held early next month, as we just concluded the current session.
“From there, we are looking at amending the Johor State Constitution (Undang-Undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri Johor 1895) after the implementation of the Federal government’s Undi18 gazette,” he said.
Yesterday, it was reported that the implementation of Undi18 and the automatic voter registration will come into effect on December 15.
The implementation of Undi18 and the automatic voter registration is expected to see some 5.6 million additional voters, comprising 4.4 million aged 21 and above; and another 1.2 million aged between 18 and 21 by December 30.
The federal administration under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had repeatedly stated that Undi18 and automatic voter registration will come into effect by December 30, 2021.
The electoral roll contains 1,252,014 voters so far.
It is estimated that 135,000 more youths aged between 18 and 20 may now vote as well.
