Pakatan to file 35 election petitions from today

Opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat will start the filing of 35 election petitions against alleged offences and irregularities in the May 5 general election, from today until the deadline for filing, which is Thursday.

"This will involve an initial cost of RM500,000 and we will need to raise another RM1 million," PKR director of stategy Rafizi Ramli said at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

PKR will be holding at least three fundraisers to come up with the extra million, while other components may have their own funding drives, added Rafizi.

The money, Rafizi (left) explained, was for the initial RM15,000 deposit per election petition and possible costs at RM30,000 per petition filed, which must be paid to the defendant should a petition be struck out or the court battle lost.

Much of the legal costs to Pakatan will be pro-bono, thus saving the coalition some money.

Of the petitions Pakatan will file, 25 will be for parliamentary seats while another 10 are for the state seats.

PKR will file 19 petitions for the 18 parliamentary seats of Merbok, Kulim Bandar Baru, Ketereh, Machang, Balik Pulau, Tapah, Bagan Datok, Sabak Bernam, Setiawangsa, Segamat, Ledang, Muar, Tebrau, Pasir Gudang, Kota Marudu, Beaufort, Pensiangan and Baram.

It is noted that there are two petitions for Bagan Datok - one for allegations of spending over the allowed campaign budget, and another for other alleged offenses.

Keeping up the public pressure

Meanwhile, DAP will file the petitions for Cameron Highlands and Labis, and PAS for Sungai Besar, Titiwangsa, Pulai and Kuala Selangor.

The other 10 election petitions are for state seats, and will be filed by both PAS and DAP.

Rafizi noted that while he is coordinating the petitions for PKR, lawyers Hanipah Maidin and Gobind Singh Deo are the coordinators for PAS and DAP, respectively.

Pakatan has alleged that massive fraud and irregularities had marred the recent polls, vowing to maintain protests and keep up public pressure to force the BN-controlled government to acquiesce to election reforms.

In tandem with their election petitions and public pressure in the form of the 'Black 505' rallies, Pakatan also plans to file civil suits against the EC three weeks from today, to keep up the legal challenges.

The suits will be filed against EC's failure to implement indelible ink, to urge the court to conduct a judicial review of the Sabah electoral roll over phantom voter concerns brought up during the ongoing royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigration, and to seek a declaration that Section 9A of the Election Act preventing judicial review of electoral rolls be declared ultra vires the constitution.

Legal doyen and constitutional law expert Abdul Aziz Bari will lead Pakatan's team in filing the legal suits.