Pakatan moves to ensure hearing day for suit to nullify GE13 results
(TMI) – Pakatan Rakyat is going all out to ensure the High Court hears the merit of its suit to nullify the results of all 222 parliamentary seats in the May 5 general election.
It has asked for more time to file additional affidavits to rebut the Election Commission’s application to throw out the suit.
Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Datuk Rosnaini Saub has fixed January 27 to hear the striking out application.
On July 15, PR asked the court to set aside results of all 222 parliamentary seats, as well as to disband the current EC leadership and conduct fresh polls.
In its statement of claim, PR said the unprecedented move was necessary due to the indelible ink fiasco which it said caused massive cheating in the polls.
On August 29, the EC filed an application to strike out the suit, saying that it was wrong for the opposition and several defeated candidates to challenge the election results in a civil court.
The EC said any move to question polls results should be made through election petitions in the election court.
In the striking out application, the EC said that aggrieved parties could only file petitions to challenge election results once the outcome was gazetted under the Federal Constitution and the Election Offences Act.
It said PR’s suit was frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process.
In its statement of claim, PR, which is seeking exemplary and general damages, said it lost some 30 parliamentary seats by fewer than 10% of the votes.
The coalition further claimed that even if the percentage of those who voted twice was small, it was sufficient to affect the results in a significant number of seats.
In addition to the indelible ink fiasco, where it was discovered on voting day that the ink applied on voters’ fingers could be easily washed away, the plaintiffs – PKR, DAP and PAS – also trained their guns on seven members of the EC.
The other plaintiffs in this action are opposition candidates Dzulkefly Ahmad, M. Manogaran, Saifuddin Nasution, Arifin Rahman and R. Rajoo, all of whom narrowly lost in the polls.
Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pakatan-moves-to-ensure-hearing-day-for-suit-to-nullify-ge13-results
