Canberra may soon have a third seat in federal Parliament due to its booming population.
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The development emerged on Friday when the Electoral Commission deferred a planned redistribution of federal electoral boundaries for the ACT.
Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn directed that the redistribution that had been due to start by December 12 be deferred on the basis that the number of electoral divisions could increase to three.
''The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 provides for a deferral if the commission is of the opinion that, following the next determination, the number of members of the House of Representatives to be chosen in the ACT may change," he said.
''A determination is made using population figures provided by the Australian Statistician, with the number of members of the House of Representatives calculated by dividing the relative population of each state and territory by a set quota.
''If a determination alters the number of members to be elected in a particular state or territory, a redistribution is conducted prior to the next federal election.''
At the last determination, in September 2011, the Electoral Commission determined that the ACT would maintain its entitlement to elect two members of the House of Representatives – in the divisions of Canberra and Fraser.
The ACT electorates of Fraser and Canberra currently have the highest number of voters of all the seats in the country.
The ACT briefly had three seats in parliament in the mid 1990s.
New projections released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last month suggested Canberra's population could increase to 904,000 by 2061.
Predicting a population boom of at least 98 per cent within 50 years, the new data shows the ACT's population will exceed Tasmania's by 2038.
The ACT population projections for 2061 range from 612,000 to 904,000, offering significant challenges for governments and ACT infrastructure.
A spokeswoman for ACTEW Water said then the key infrastructure including the new Cotter Dam was designed to sustain significant population growth in the ACT.
The Northern Territory and the ACT both have two representatives in the House of Representatives, and two Senators.
Each state has 12 Senators, including Tasmania.
