Khairy: Premature to talk about re-elections

Follow due process first, says Umno Youth chief, in response to Pakatan's call for re-elections in certain disputed constituencies.

PUTRAJAYA: It is premature to talk about re-elections prior to election petitions being heard and disposed of, said Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

The newly-appointed Youth and Sports minister said this in response to calls by Pakatan Rakyat for re-elections in constituencies they claimed cheating had occurred during the May 5 polls.

“It is premature to talk about re-elections. Whatever proof they have thus far (of electoral fraud) is minimal. They can bring it to court and let them (the courts) decide,” Khairy told FMT in a recent interview.

“The main thing now is to follow the due process available to all parties to file an election petition,” he added.

He said that “now the results have been gazetted”, unhappy parties had “a few weeks to file” their petition to the courts.

He added the respective parties, specifically opposition de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, “must also stand guided to what the courts decide”.

“If Anwar can trust the courts in terms of his defamation suits and when they acquitted him of other charges, then he can laud and praise the courts independence in those (election) cases and trust the results of his election petition,” said Khairy.

Khairy was referring to Anwar’s defamation suit against Umno-controlled Utusan Malaysia newspaper, in which the courts ruled in Anwar’s favour.

The former deputy prime minister had also been discharged and acquitted of a sodomy charge by the High Court in 2012.

Pakatan has unceasingly demanded for re-elections at its ‘Blackout 505 Rally’ campaigns across the country in protest against alleged irregularities in the recent 13th general election.

During the rallies, Anwar had told the crowd that Pakatan should be the legitimate government now if it was not because of fraudulence.

He also claimed the BN government under prime minister Najib Tun Razak’s administration is “illegal” based on the lesser votes it had received during the polls