Warisan loses poll petition
Published on: Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Parti Warisan faced further setbacks in efforts to annul the victories of three more former Sabah Barisan Nasional candidates when the Election Court on Monday struck out a petition to nullify the results of the Sipitang parliamentary seat and the Sook and Kundasang State seats in the 14th General Election. With the decision, Yamani Hafez Musa, Datuk Ellron Angin and Dr Joachim Gunsalam, who contested on Barisan Nasional tickets remain Sipitang MP as well as Sook and Kundasang assemblymen. Sibu based High Court Judge Dato' Lee Heng Cheong allowed their preliminary objection application to strike out the election petition against them.
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The decision were delivered in Lee's chamber. Recently, election petitions filed by Warisan against former Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman and Datuk Zakaria Edris, representing the Sibuga and Sook seats respectively, were similarly dismissed.Counsel Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad, representing them as first respondent, when met by the media after the latest proceedings, said the court in its ground basically held that the three petitioners failed to meet the mandatory requirement of the Election Petition Rule.In the Sook petition, the court held that the petitioner failed to file three physical copies of Election Petition at the Court Registry, said Tengku Fuad, adding that, the court also held that the Election Petition did not have sufficient facts to sustain the petition at trial.
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So, the court struck them out on the basis that they did not meet the requirement under the Election Rule," he added. He said the judge also ordered RM20,000 cost to be paid to each respondent and RM5,000 global cost to the second respondent (Returning Officer) and the third defendant (the Election Commission of Malaysia) of each petition.
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Tengku Fuad also said that the Judge's grounds would be given in full, later.Meanwhile, according to counsel J. Marimuthu, who together with Tengku Fuad represented Yamani and Dr Joachim, said in the Sipitang Election Petition, the judge basically held that the petitioner failed to comply with Section 38 (1) (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954 - that the time which they filed the petition was out of time, as well as compliance with Rule 4(1) – the set out of the particulars of offence on the Election Petition.Warisan's candidate for Sipitang, Noor Hayaty Mustapha, 48, was seeking a declaration that the election results for the Parliamentary seat held on May 9 is void and was also seeking a declaration that BN-Umno's Yamani was not duly elected or ought not to have returned. She named Yamani, Returning Officer Matlin Dullah and the Election Commission of Malaysia as the first, second and third respondent, respectively. Warisan's candidate in Sook State constituency, Martin Tomy @ Tommy, 58, was seeking a declaration that Datuk Ellron Angin of BN-PBRS was not duly elected or ought not to have returned in the said election and that the election of Ellron be declared to be void under Section 32(a) and/or 32(c) of the Election Offences Act 1954. Martin named Ellron, the Returning officer and the Election Commission of Malaysia as the first, second and third respondents, respectively.Another petitioner, Siriman @ Mohd Fazid Basir, 60, who was Warisan's candidate for Kundasang constituency, was seeking a declaration that BN-PBS's Dr Joachim was not duly elected for the Kundasang seat and/or ought not to have been returned. He named Joachim, Returning Officer Faimin Kamin and the Election Commission of Malaysia as the first, second and third respondents, respectively.The respondents filed preliminary objection to the election petition on Aug 1 and Aug 8.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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