Rafizi: Pakatan still has chance to win, despite redelineation
By Anith Adilah
The Malay Mail Online30 March 2018
Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli speaks during the Pakatan Harapan Lembah Pantai fundraising dinner at SJK (C) Chung Kwo in Kuala Lumpur March 29, 2018. ― Picture by Miera ZulyanaMore
KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — The Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact may yet take federal power in GE14 despite allegations of engineered seats in the newly gazetted redelineation report, according to PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli.
The Pandan MP said that although the newly redrawn electoral boundaries favour the Barisan Nasional (BN), PH parties “still have a chance” to win over voters in three-cornered fights with PAS as the Malay vote would be diluted in constituencies that are more racially mixed.
“There are some areas designated for BN. This we have to admit and we can’t do anything about but there are also other constituencies with mixed voters.
“Previously when it was a straight fight, the Malay votes at these places would only go to either BN or Opposition but now with PAS in the picture, the Malay votes are diluted.
“This means we still have a chance at scoring some of those votes,” he said in his speech during last night’s Lembah Pantai PH fundraising dinner at the SJK(C) Chung Kwo here.
He named Lembah Pantai as an example of a mixed constituency where PH has a fighting chance to win.
Other PH leaders and election hopefuls who attended the fundraiser told some 400-over supporters that the gazetted redelineation exercise would severely impact the seats currently occupied by its members.
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil who was named the “best candidate” for Lembah Pantai by its incumbent Nurul Izzah Anwar, highlighted the inclusion of Bukit Aman to the parliamentary seat and the removal of Brickfields from the constituency.
“Lembah Pantai today is not the Lembah Pantai we used to know. So much has changed.
“After the redelineation motion was passed, the nett result is an additional 800 voters but when you really look at it, at least 10,000 police votes are now added in.
“We know nothing about Bukit Aman, and the Brickfields community that we grew to love over the years, is no longer with us,” he said in his speech.
Fahmi said the exercise caused the voter demographics in Lembah Pantai to change from 56 per cent Malay, 22 per cent Chinese and 19 per cent Indian to 62 per cent Malay, 19 per cent Chinese and 16 per cent Indian.
“There is an increase of about 6 per cent Malay voters and reduction of Chinese and Indian voters by 3 per cent respectively.
“The figure looks small but the impact is significant especially when we are trying to win votes,” he said.
Fahmi said the decision to include Bukit Aman into the Lembah Pantai constituency was unconstitutional as the districts were geographically split.
“Physically, one would have to exit Lembah Pantai, go into Segambut, Jalan Semantan and Jalan Duta to get there. That is passing through Lim Lip Eng’s area.
“Or the other way is by exiting Lembah Pantai and bypassing Bukit Bintang, which is a whole other different constituency. It just does not make sense,” he said.
Fahmi said the Election Commission (EC) had failed to do justice to the redelineation exercise as evident in the disproportionate number of voters between the smallest and largest constituencies in a particular state.
Former Bersih 2.0 chair Maria Chin Abdullah, who will be contesting on PKR ticket this GE14, echoed the same sentiment.
“The impacts are severe to us. Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua will now have to do a lot more work since he has over 150,000 voters to look after in a new constituency named Damansara.
“In Subang, or what is now called Sg Buloh, Sivarasa Rasiah may even lose his seat because the new voting boundaries see a different demographics involving more Malay voters,” she said.
Other critics, including electoral watchdogs have said the EC’s recommendations would give an unfair advantage to the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. The EC has denied such claims.
