Wednesday 5 June 2013

IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN AN ELECTION PETITION








By : G VINOD


PETALING JAYA: It is almost impossible to win an election petition as the standard of proof is ‘beyond human capacity’, said PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli.

Elaborating on the matter in an interview, Rafizi said that those filing an election petition could so under three categories, namely:

1) being involved in general bribery

2) conduct against electoral procedures

3) if a candidate is caught giving inducement to candidates to skew votes.

Rafizi said that as for general bribery, the party filing the petition should prove that the opposing side had given inducements or intimidate voters to influence their ballots.

“But let’s say if I lost in a place with 1,700 votes, I have to get about 1,000 people to come forward to sign statutory declaration and lodge police reports to back up the allegation.

“It is almost impossible to get 1,000 voters to so do. At most, probably we can get about 10 people to come forward,” he said.

Rafizi added that even if he does manage to bring 1,000 voters, it would be futile as the opposing side could argue that the voters wanted to cast their ballots for the latter anyway.

“Plus, I have to bring in significant amount of voters to prove that the election results could have turned otherwise. If not, the petition will get thrown out in the preliminary stage itself,” said Rafizi.

As for going against electoral procedure, Rafizi said that blackouts during vote tallying, tampered ballot boxes, wrong counting and others could be grouped in that category.

“Again,I have to prove that sufficient number of votes were compromised due to the irregularity that could have turned the results otherwise. If not, the case will not stick,” he said.

He cited an example where the contest for the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat where Pakatan Rakyat agents found an additional 126 votes coming from one stream.

“The case will not stand as the number is not substantial,” said Rafizi.

As for the third category, Rafizi said that it will be impossible for a candidate to be caught giving out money to voters as such works are sub-contracted to third parties.

“In Penang, there were allegations that money was given by some NGOs and even the underworld. When we take pictures or videos, obviously they will not attach the party logo on them.
“In other words, the clause requires us to catch the candidate or his agent red-handed in giving out inducements,” said Rafizi.

On that note, the Pandan MP said that the electoral laws in Malaysia are skewed  to allow and tolerate discrepancies, unless it hits a criticial level that can alter the election results.

“That is why I am not confident we can win the petitions but it is part of the process to push for electoral reforms,” he said.

The PKR leader added that based on history and checks with Bersih and his lawyers, not many election petition was tried in court as many got struck out in the preliminary stage itself.

Rafizi said that he would explain the matter to the public, which he believes would increase the momentum in pushing for more electoral reforms in the system.

Rafizi also said that there is another stumbling block to the election petition, which is the Section 9 (a) of the Election Act 1958, which bars the court from scrutinising the electoral roll.

He said that the Elections Commission (EC) had used the particular clause to protect dubious names in the electoral roll from being challenged in court all this while.

On that note, Rafizi said that PKR had set up a team, headed by constitutional expert Aziz Bari, to look into whether the clause runs ultra vires to the the Federal Constitution.

“All I can say for now is that Barisan Nasional (BN) and the EC is in for a suprise. We are going to challenge and rectify all mistakes done in the electoral role for the past 15 years,” he said.

22 comments:

  1. Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) tidak akan melayan gesaan parti pembangkang untuk berdebat mengenai proses pilihan raya umum ke-13 yang lepas.


    ReplyDelete
  2. "Sebenarnya kami tidak takut untuk berdebat dengan sesiapa kerana kami melaksanakan kerja bersandarkan pada undang-undang dan peraturan tetapi untuk apa SPR perlu bagi publisiti murahan kepada mereka?

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Pembangkang hendak sangat tunjukkan pada penyokong mereka kononnya mereka menang debat. Dia berdebat nak cari publisiti, nak hujahkan perkara yang dia duk debat di jalan raya tu, walhal sekarang ini waktu petisyen pilihan raya, kita kena hormat undang-undang,” katanya.


    ReplyDelete
  4. Barisan Nasional (BN) akan memfailkan lebih 50 petisyen membabitkan sekurangkurangnya 37 kerusi Parlimen dan Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Petisyen itu bagi mencabar keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Ke13 (PRU13) yang memihak kepada pembangkang. Presiden UMNO, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, berkata semua petisyen itu akan difailkan di Mahkamah Tinggi sebelum tarikh akhir 11 Jun ini, iaitu 21 hari selepas keputusan PRU13 diwartakan.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Malaysia's monarchy is not only of historical and sentimental significance to the nation, but also plays important role of ensuring effectiveness of 'check and balance' mechanism that strengthens its democratic institution, says the Raja Muda of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail.

    ReplyDelete
  7. He said besides being heads of the Islamic religion and protector of Malay custom, the royal rulers played a key role by giving ideas and views for socio-economic and educational development.

    ReplyDelete
  8. An allocation of RM6 million to fund the construction of Kompleks Penyayang Taman Cahaya near hear, is proof of the state government’s concern for the well-being of the less fortunate, said Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

    ReplyDelete
  9. “Even though there were obstacles and problems to develop the complex, with all-out effort and concern from the state government on the target group’s needs, finally it was fully completed,”

    ReplyDelete
  10. Entrepreneurs in Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) schemes should make use of the opportunity to produce high-quality products in order to compete in the market.

    ReplyDelete
  11. They are well trained in searching for successful examples of the learning intention, articulating their responses to the work, checking the writing matches any targets and giving constructive feedback.

    ReplyDelete
  12. hildren begin to understand grammar concepts, and start to apply them in their own writing, when they start to read with a writer's mind.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Punctuation rules and techniques are drawn from shared texts; texts which the children have already been immersed in and have a good understanding of.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The use of drama is such a powerful tool. Taking the lead from our drama specialist, all teaching staff use a range of techniques to promote the exploration of characters, situations and historical events

    ReplyDelete
  15. This writing frame helps your children to analyse the structure of story plots, and look at how a problem occurs, and is then overcome

    ReplyDelete
  16. Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) menegaskan bahawa tidak wujud dakwaan
    bekalan elektrik terputus pada 5 Mei lalu dan mendakwa penganjuran
    perhimpunan haram oleh pembangkang hanya bertujuan mencemar nama
    suruhanjaya itu.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Malah Timbalan Pengerusi SPR, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar berkata
    perhimpunan yang dikenali sebagai ‘Black505′ merupakan satu penghinaan
    terhadap sistem pilihan raya demokrasi di negara ini.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Tambah beliau SPR sedang mendapatkan nasihat perundangan bagi
    membolehkan pihaknya bertindak terhadap mereka yang mencemar nama
    suruhanjaya itu untuk kepentingan politik murahan.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Beliau membidas Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dan
    Penasihat DAP, Lim Kit Siang sebagai ‘fanatik anti-demokrasi’ dan mereka
    yang menyokong perjuangan mereka sebagai ‘aktivis penentang golongan
    berkuasa’ serta golongan muda yang tidak memahami undang-undang.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Selain itu Wan Ahmad turut memberi amaran kepada pembangkang supaya
    menghentikan perhimpunan haram kerana tidak ada kejadian seperti itu
    berlaku pada hari mengundi.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Menyeru semua pihak menghormati keputusan yang dibuat oleh pengundi
    selaras dengan prinsip-prinsip demokrasi, Wan Ahmad berkata mereka yang
    mempertikaikan keputusan pilihan raya hendaklah memfailkan petisyen di
    mahkamah dan bukannya membantah melalui perhimpunan jalanan.

    ReplyDelete
  22. pemimpin pembangkang tidak boleh sewenang-wenangnya
    menolak keputusan yang dibuat oleh pengundi melalui peti undi dalam
    pilihan raya bebas dan adil.

    ReplyDelete