Not all election petitions filed will be heard in court, says EC

(The Star) - Not every election petition filed by candidates and political parties to challenge the results of a general election will make it to the hearing stage in court.

This is because the petitions would be vetted to ensure they met the legal requirements before they could be allowed for a hearing, said Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

“I believe this is the reason why no candidate or political party has yet to file petitions even though the June 12 deadline is approaching; they want to make sure their petitions can stand up in court,” he said.

Wan Ahmad said the EC had made all the necessary preparations to handle the filing of petitions, with EC’s legal adviser working closely with lawyers from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, who will be representing the EC in court.

“Of the 29 election petitions filed to challenge the 2008 general election results, only one was successful,” he said.

Hashim Jasin, who was the PAS candidate for the Sanglang state seat in Perlis, had filed a petition to challenge the results after Barisan Nasional’s Abdullah Hassan was declared the winner with a 149-vote majority.

Hashim filed his petition on grounds that the election result was contrary to the figures stated in EC’s Form 14, which showed that he had won with a 47-vote majority.

Form 14 is the form that records the results for the respective streams, with signatures from the polling stations’ presiding officers and counting agents. Subsequently, the Federal Court declared Hashim as the rightful winner.

In another case, the Election Court in Kota Kinabalu nullified the 2008 general election results for the Pensiangan parliamentary seat which Barisan’s Tan Sri Joseph Kurup had won uncontested. However, the Federal Court in June 2010 overturned that decision.

Meanwhile, Federal Court corporate communications and international relations head Mohd Aizuddin Zolkeply said election judges, as in the past, would not be allowed to hear cases from their own states to avoid conflicts of interest.

He added that the election judges were High Court judges appointed specially to hear election petitions.

“I hope that the plaintiffs would make sure that all of their papers and evidence are in order,” he said when contacted.

Chief Justice Tun Ariffin Zakaria had previously said that the election petitions must be disposed within six months of filing to ensure that the petitioners receive fair hearing of their cases.

Previously, it would take almost a year to settle these cases.

According to the law, the Election Court is only empowered to nullify or uphold the election results. It is then up to the EC to decide on whether to hold a by-election.

But the ruling of the Election Court can be challenged at the Federal Court. The Federal Court’s decision will then be final.