SHAH ALAM, Jan 16 — Selangor requires additional Parliamentary and State Legislative Assembly seats following a sharp increase in the number of voters, said election analyst G Manimaran.
This development followed the implementation of Undi18, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 in 2019, and the introduction of automatic voter registration.
He said the increase has resulted in many Parliamentary constituencies in the state having excessively large voter populations, thereby undermining the principle of balanced representation.
“For example, the Bangi Parliamentary constituency now has more than 300,000 voters, around 310,000, compared with only about 180,000 before 2022.
“If we take the ideal average of between 50,000 and 100,000 voters per constituency, Bangi should be split into three or four seats,” Manimaran told Media Selangor.
A similar situation has occurred in several other constituencies like Subang, Damansara, Kota Raja, Petaling Jaya, and Gombak, each of which has recorded more than 200,000 voters.
He added that Selangor as a whole requires at least 10 new Parliamentary seats to uphold the principle of fair representation.
“Redelineation is necessary to ensure that each constituency has balanced representation, taking into account population growth and the process of modernisation in urban areas,” Manimaran said.
Commenting on the timeline, he said the Election Commission (EC) can begin a redelineation review only after March 2026, in line with the Federal Constitution's provision for an eight-year interval between reviews.
“The EC cannot act arbitrarily, because if it is done earlier, it could be challenged in court and lead to legal implications,” Manimaran said.
On December 22 last year, Selangor Umno chairman Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin said that he would not support any proposal for electoral redelineation that could undermine the interests of Malay-majority constituencies in the state.
The concern arose following assumptions that there are parties seeking to add non-Malay seats through the redelineation process.
He noted that any redelineation exercise must be comprehensive, covering all 22 Parliamentary seats in Selangor, and not be focused solely on specific constituencies.
