Gerrymandering & Its Potential Impact

Will it change the political fortunes of the power players? Commentary IN A press statement on 1 May 2018, Charles Santiago, the incumbent parliamentarian for Klang in the politically-prized state of Selangor suggested the impact of gerrymandering would be “wide and far-reaching”. [...] The exercise has turned out to be a form of gerrymandering combined with the malapportionment of voters to strengthen seats in BN’s rural base. [...] In contrast, the smallest seat in the same state of Selangor, Sabak Bernam - largely rural and held by UMNO - the linchpin of BN, has 40,863 electors. [...] Predicting Impact of Redelineation INVOKE, an NGO established by Rafizi Ramli, the vice-president of PKR, however, believes that the impact of redelineation on the Opposition will be minimal. [...] Reducing the Significance of Opposition Supporters? For the most part, the redelineation exercise in the Peninsula involved tinkering with various constituencies, renaming them, and moving blocs of Malay and Chinese voters to reduce the impact of mixed seats on the BN by creating more ethnic- dominant constituencies.