The amended Election Act for constituency and party-list MPs came into force today (Sunday) following its publication in the Royal Gazette yesterday.
Under the amended law, there will be 400 constituency and 100 party-list MPs, instead of 350 and 150 as previously stipulated.
The population per constituency seat is determined by the total population of the country, according to the latest census, divided by 400. The number of constituency MPs for each province is based on the population of each province, divided by the number of people eligible for a constituency MP.
Each province will have at least one constituency MP, even if its population is fewer than the people eligible for a constituency seat.
Under these calculations, if the total number of constituency MPs is still short of the 400 total, provinces with higher populations will be eligible for another constituency MP, until the full 400 seats are filled.
There will be 100 party-list seats and the number of votes for each seat is determined by combining the votes received by all parties contesting the election divided by 100. The result will be used to divide the votes received by each party, to determine the number of party-list seats each party will receive.
Each party is eligible to submit one list of party-list candidates, not exceeding 100 names. The list of the candidates must not include names which are on the constituency candidate lists of its own or other parties and inclusion on the list must be with the approval of the candidate.
