KT Subdivided into 4 DUN, 38 DM, 36 TM, 336 Localities

Kuala Terengganu (P036) contains 4 state seats (DUN), 38 voting districts (DM), 36 voting stations (TM), 143 voting streams (Saluran), and 336 localities. Oddly, KT contains very small and large localities (1 to 2,812 voters).


Background: How a parliamentary seat is subdivided. See earlier report for other details.

• Election observers need to consider how the constituency is organized by the SPR.
• A parliamentary constituency is divided into 3 or 4 state assembly seats (DUN).
• A state seat is divided into around 10 voting districts (Daerah Mengundi, or DM). See Tables A and B.
• A DM is further divided into, generally, 5 to 15 localities (Lokaliti).
• A locality can be divided into many house numbers (NoRumah).
  • But there are often many voters with a blank house number within the locality. We will examine this later. Also see earlier report on Permatang Pauh.
  • KT contains some really large localities, containing as many as 2,812 voters, probably due to the vague registration of voters by unspecific village addresses (Kampung …). See Table C. See earlier report on large localities in GE12 electoral roll.
• Each DM is often associated with a voting station (Tempat Mengundi, or TM).
  • But sometimes two DMs can share a voting station. We will list the DMs and TMs in the next blog entry.
• Each voting station is further divided into, generally, 1 to 10 voting streams (Saluran).
• Voters within a DM are given a serial number (NoSiri), that runs across localities and within the DM.
  • It is odd that the NoSiri for KT’s 2 oldest voters have been changed from Number 1 to the largest NoSiri.
  • Probably not in KT, but elsewhere it could mean requiring the old voters with high serial numbers to climb up to voting streams on higher floors to vote.

Table A shows the overall subdivision:

• KT contains 4 DUNs.
• The DUNs each contains 7 to 11 DMs, totalling 38 DMs.
• The DUNs each contains 65 to 110 localities, totalling 336 localities.
• Batu Buruk is the largest DUN by voter count (about 30%);
• Ladang is the smallest (about 21%).

Table A: How KT P036 is Subdived, with Voter Count
2008 Dec 5

Table B shows the voter counts under each voting district (DM, Daerah Mengundi):

• These voter counts will be determine the crowd and traffic jam at the voting centers on voting day. Kampung Paluh, eg, should be pretty crowded. A further study of the TMs will show that Seberang Baruh and Tok Ku are using the same school as TM, and will have over 3,000 voters as well.
• There are 7 to 11 DMs under each of the 4 DUNs at KT, totalling 38 DMs.
• Most DMs contain one to three thousand voters.
• The largest DMs are Kampung Paluh (0361302) with 3,747 voters, and Gong Kapas (0361504) with 3,362 voters.
• The smallest DM is Pantai Batu Buruk (0361601) with 981 voters.

Table B: Voter Count By Voting District (Daerah Mengundi, DM)
KT P036 2008 Dec 5

Organizing Electoral Monitoring:

• Election monitoring includes electoral roll verification, election campaign monitoring, and election day observation.
• Because there is no state-level election, there is less need to split into 4 teams according to the DUN divisions, except to help management and decentralization.
• The 38 DMs involve 36 TMs (Tempat Mengundi, voting station) because 2 pairs of DMs are sharing TMs.
• This means there need to be 36 to 38 sets or sub-teams of field observers / leaders / documentation supports, to monitor the 36 voting stations.
• We will list the TMs in the next blog entry

Table C selectively shows the largest and smallest localities by voter counts:

• The large localities will require more manpower for field verification and campaign monitoring.
• A locality is a street address, a village (kampung) address, or a postal address, such as a police quarters, army camp, or absentee voter location.
• Most of KT’s localities turn out to be the less specific village addresses (rather than the specific street address that would have helped voter verification).
• The size of localities in KT turns out to be highly uneven.
• There are whopper-size localities of 2,812 and 2,143 voters.
• There are also a couple of single-voter localities, such as Kg. Bukit Keledang and Kg Losong Wan Endut, after we exclude police and absentee postal voter localities.

Table C: Largest and Smallest Localities By Voter Count
Kula Terengganu P036 as of 2008 Dec 5