ERC man: Proportional system can address some systemic problems

The new electoral system which the Election Reform Committee (ERC) will propose to the government was aimed at partially addressing malapportionment, said ERC member Wong Chin Huat.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Wong (photo) said the proposed “party-list “proportional representation”(PR) system - which eliminates the need for parliamentary constituencies - can address imbalances in voter weightage within a state or territory.

"Practically speaking, both inter-state and intra-state malapportionment cannot be fixed within the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in time for the 15th general election.

"The only way to correct malapportionment is to introduce party-list PR system either fully to replace FPTP as the ERC currently proposes, or partially in the form of mixed-member proportional (MMP) as in Germany and New Zealand or mixed-member majoritarian as in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan," Wong said...