PKR polling agent says not given certified copy of Form 14

KOTA KINABALU: A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) polling agent at Channel 1 at Sekolah Kebangsaan Matunggong, Mopingki Manuring, told the Election Court here today that he was not given a copy of the Form 14 that was certified by the Presiding Officer there as required by the Election Rules.

Mopingki, 57, said he was the agent for PKR candidate Datuk Maijol Mahap, who filed the petition seeking to nullify the May 5 general election result for the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat.

Mopingki, who is the first witness called to testify in the hearing of the petition which began today, said he was made to understand that Form 14 recorded the total number of votes for the channel.

"After signing Form 14, I should be given an additional copy of the form which had been certified so that the final total votes at the polling centre could be certified by myself or the petitioner or his (petitioner) election agent," he added.

Mopingki said this when questioned by senior federal counsel Mahiran Mohd Isa during the first day hearing of the petition before Judge Datuk Yew Jen Kee.

Mopingki said he was informed by the president officer that he had been instructed by the Returning Officer to not give the form to anyone.

"After that the officer concerned 'chased' me out of the room and then closed the door to the polling centre," he added.

He said he was also not allowed to scrutinise the results recorded on Form 14.

Mopingki said when he approached the presiding officer again to request for the certified Form 14, his request was rejected.

He claimed that initial statement of the vote tally for the channel recorded 350 ballot papers (which were supposed to be in the ballot box), but the official record stated that there were only 254 ballot papers.

In the petition, Mahap named Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, the winner of the Kota Marudu seat, as the first respondent, and Lovita Koisun and the Election Commission (EC), as the second and third respondent, respectively.

However, on Aug 13, Yew ordered Ongkili to be removed from the list of respondents in the petition. In the petition, Mahap contended that Form 14, which recorded the number of votes obtained by each candidate and the number of spoilt votes, was not given to the PKR polling agent.

Onkili, who contested as a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate, won the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat with a 842-vote majority, after securing 15,168 votes in a four cornered fight. Besides Mahap, who garnered 14,326 votes, the other contenders were Majamis Timbong of Star (2,228 votes) and Yuntau alias Kuntau Kolod, of SAPP, with 444 votes.

- BERNAMA