…

28 August 2017

malaysiakini.com‏Verified account @malaysiakini

Mahathir again questions Pekan ‘population boom’

Koh Jun Lin

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again questioned the sudden increase in the number of voters in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s constituency in Pekan.

He claimed that Najib would have lost if the number of voters in Pekan had not been boosted by moving in voters from other places, and expressed concern that this may recur.

“The Pekan constituency had only 35,000 voters and Najib nearly lost (in the 1999 general election) if he didn’t brought in voters from other places.

“In the following years where there was an election, suddenly the number of voters increased from 35,000 to 80,000. Where did so many (voters) come from?

“That’s why we are concerned that there were ‘additions’. That’s in Pekan; I think in the coming election, there would be more additions. When there are postal votes, it would be brought to other places. If not, he would lose,” Mahathir told a press conference in Gombak last night, after attending a Bersatu Youth fundraising auction and dinner.
.
Najib had inherited the Pekan seat from his father Abdul Razak Hussein in 1976 and has held the seat continuously since, except for the period between 1982 and 1986.

For the record, there were 35,834 registered voters in Pekan during the 1999 general election. The figure increased to 52,687 in the 2004 general election, following a redelineation exercise in the previous year.

The redelineation saw voters being shifted from the neighbouring constituencies of Kuantan and Paya Besar to Pekan, as well as the inclusion of an army camp. Mahathir was still the prime minister when the redelineation proposal was passed in Parliament.

Since then, the number of voters in Pekan had increased to 58,217 by the 2008 general election, and 80,260 by the 2013 general election.

Alluding that the increase was due to phantom voters, Mahathir had previously described Pekan as kawasan hantu raya (an area with ghosts) instead of kawasan pilihanraya (an electoral constituency).

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/393388

..

Pekan had 80,260 voters at GE 13 but only 58,217 voters at GE 12. At GE 12 (2004), there were 52,687 voters.

GE 11 (2004)

GE 13 (2013)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_Malaysian_general_election,_2013_by_parliamentary_constituency#Pahang
.
GE 12 (2008)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_Malaysian_general_election,_2008_by_parliamentary_constituency#Pahang

…