Notice of Delineation

Judicial review: Ruling on leave February 17

by Jonathan Chia, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 3, 2015, Tuesday

See (front) and Kho after the court proceeding yesterday.

High Court directs parties in landmark case against Election Commission to file further submissions by Feb 4, reply by Feb 6
KUCHING: The Kuching High Court will decide on Feb 17 whether to grant leave to hear a landmark application for judicial review by two voters to declare as null and void the Election Commission’s notice of proposed redelineation recommendations.
Justice Datuk Yew Jen Kie, who heard arguments on the application in chamber yesterday, also directed all parties concerned to file further submission, if necessary, by Feb 4, and reply, if any, by Feb 6.
The judicial review application was filed by state PKR vice chairman See Chee How and Pauls Baya from Baram on Jan 28. It aimed to seek a court declaration that the publication and notification by the EC on the delineation of constituencies did not comply with provisions contained in the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
The EC was named as the respondent in the judicial review.
State EC director Datu Takun Sunggah said the EC had gone beyond what was required under the Federal Constitution by publishing the proposals in a local newspaper circulating in the state constituency when they published them in the New Sarawak Tribune and Utusan Sarawak.
He added that the EC had also published the proposals in the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia in the Peninsular Malaysia, as well as The Borneo Post in Sabah.
“Their (applicants) main argument is the notice … that we did not give enough information to the public, but the notice is at the display centres, and we have all the information there,” Takun told reporters when met after the court hearing yesterday.
He said the state EC had so far received 13 objections from all over the state, where each complaint consisted of 100 people, as required under Section 5 of the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution
He added that the EC would decide on the date for the hearing of these complaints later.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who represented the Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers yesterday, told the High Court that the application for judicial review by See and Pauls was “premature”.
“As far as we are concerned, the EC had complied with the provisions of the law in the delineation notice, and we said the notice is a valid notice under the law, and we have complied strictly to what has been provided for under the Federal Constitution.”
On the insufficient notice raised by the plaintiffs, Shamsul said, “The notice stated how you’re (constituents are) affected and where the notice can be inspected. They have 100 days to make representations and objections. That has been complied with, and if they want further particulars, they can go to the 51 stations provided for in the notice.”
As the hearing yesterday only involved leave of application for judicial review, Shamsul said he only represented the AG Chambers, and the EC would be represented during the substantive stage, if the leave is allowed.
Meanwhile, See, who is also Batu Lintang assemblyman, in response to Shamsul’s argument that the application for judicial review was premature, said Shamsul came up with the argument because they were taking the judicial review as a challenge to the proposed recommendations, which was not at this stage.
“What we are challenging is the notice of the proposed recommendations by the EC. We are just talking about notice at this stage. Lacking in particulars, the notice is wrong and insufficient.”
He said the New Sarawak Tribune and its sister paper Utusan Sarawak had limited circulation in Sarawak, and an affidavit was filed to show that these papers have no circulation in various rural centres whose voters are affected by the constituency review exercise.
He added that the same goes for the New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia, and the The Borneo Post in Sabah.
See said Clause 4 of 13th Schedule required the EC to publish in at least one newspaper circulating in the constituencies. But the question is whether it is sufficient for the EC to just publish the notice in more than a newspaper or is it necessary for them to publish the notice in newspapers and that the newspapers are circulating in all the constituencies affected by the delineation.
“We are submitting that the purpose of publishing the notice and what is required by Section 4 of the 13th Schedule is to publish in newspapers that are circulating in the constituencies to bring to the attention of all the voters affected by the proposed recommendations.
“It is not about just publishing in more than one newspaper.”
See said he also did not agree with the argument of the legal officers that the court did not have jurisdiction over the delineation process as in a country that practiced parliamentary democracy and separation of power, the decision, action, or omission by the legislature and executive branches of government were subjected to review by the court, unless there is specific provisions in the constitution and laws to oust the power of the court to judicially review the matter.
The High Court proceeding yesterday was also attended by state legal counsel Datuk JC Fong, who was holding a watching brief for the state government and State Legislative Assembly, and EC legal advisor Azizan Md Arshad.
See represented himself and Pauls. He was assisted by Desmond Kho.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/02/03/judicial-review-ruling-on-leave-february-17/#ixzz3QdJfAVCQ

173. Poster of rigging by ECM

172. references for debate

Former Anwar aide to debate Ambiga | Free Malaysia Today
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/10/24/former-anwar-aid-to-debate-ambiga/

go there for more references and comments =

Blogger: Malaysian General Elections 13 in 2013 - All posts
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4727864967614561154#allposts &

Blogger: The-Ballot-Box-Group-Sabah - Overview
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8983619627573919156#overview/src=dashboard

before the debate for the focus of the frauds of GE13 as in all GEs - the ballot boxes frauds and manipulation not monitor properly and beyond the control of the opposition because EC is part of BN/UMNO for decades. Hence CRIMINALS installed in Governments.

171. scared of the TRUTH on electoral frauds

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=976416

PAS Files Appeal Against Dismissal Of Election Petitions In Perak

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- PAS is appealing against the dismissal of election petitions involving five state assembly seats in Perak.

Co-counsel acting for the party, Gene Anand Vendragon, when contacted today, confirmed that the case management for the appeals for Rungkup, Manong and Pasir Panjang had been set for Thursday.

The case management for Lubok Merbau and Selama has been set for Sept 19.

PAS secured five state seats, compared with DAP's 18 and PKR's five seats in the May general election, with Barisan Nasional currently holding 31 of the 59 seats in the assembly.

Anand said PAS was pursuing the seats which the party lost with a marginal number of votes of between 100 to 500.

He said the appeals were filed under Section 35A of the Election Offences Act 1954, where petitioners and respondents had up to mid-November to file appeals.

He added that all petitions filed by the party had been rejected by the election courts on technical ground.

Lead counsel Datuk Bastian Pius Vendragon will represent the petitioners at the Apex Court.

A total of 58 election petitions were filed by political parties in Peninsular Malaysia, with the highest number registered in Perak at 11, followed by Kelantan (nine).

-- BERNAMA

170. Contempt of Court

While there is a Court case on EC - past and present - what the ex EC Chief said is CONTEMPT OF COURT.   Rashid had robbed the nation with other CRIMINALS in Govt. Joshua
http://my.news.yahoo.com/ex-chief-electoral-roll-not-mark-not-ecs-002842441.html

Ex-chief: Electoral roll not up to mark, but not EC's fault

Malaysiakini – Fri, Sep 6, 2013

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Malaysia's electoral roll may be "clean" but it is "not up to international standards", said former Election Commission (EC) chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman.

However, he said in an email interview with Malaysiakini, the EC was not at fault as the laws pertaining to registration of electors are themselves not comprehensive enough to cover certain missing areas.
Abdul Rashid said instead of the "ridiculous" urgings for EC commissioners to resign, the EC should be "commended" for protecting the rights of all citizens and political parties to participate in elections.
"I give high marks to the EC for the work well done in spite of the fact that the organisation has not been equipped with proper laws that enable it to be in a proper position of power and authority."
He said among the constraints faced by the EC is its inability to relocate voters unless the voter him/herself requests to have his/her voting constituency moved.
He said that a "big chunk" of voters do not vote where they reside and this has given rise to allegations of phantom voters.
"In principle, a voter should vote where he lives (but) how do we comply with that principle in our situation unless the roll is prepared just before an election through a completely new exercise, just like a national census?" he asked.
It's neither up-to-date nor transparent
Abdul Rashid, who served for 27 years in the commission before retiring in 2009, argued that the roll is considered clean on account that it does not contain non-citizens nor underaged persons.
Yet it does not fulfil international standards because it is neither "comprehensive, inclusive, accurate, up-to-date", nor is the process in which it is compiled "fully transparent".
He said that one way to get the electoral roll up to scratch is to have automatic registration, using the National Registration Department (NRD) database.
However, he said, this would mean the government must enforce the regulation that requires all Malaysians to update their addresses with the NRD upon three months of moving.
"Otherwise, the new system would create bigger havoc than we could imagine, when at least 50 percent of the population would find their names registered to areas they no longer reside and no amount of correspondence could ever reach them."
He said that in fact, a lot of countries draw up new electoral rolls just before an election to ensure that everything is up-to-date.
"We can do it too, with political will and a sufficient budget," he said, adding that the best practices when it comes to the integrity of the electoral roll are found in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Maldives.
Give EC more teeth
On a related topic, he said that if there was anything that must be urgently addressed coming out of the 13th general election in May, it is the laws governing elections and the EC's powers.
"As it stands today, our election laws do not provide much room for the EC to exercise its power to enhance democratic practices in elections as certain vital ingredients are sorely missing in our election laws," he said.
"The missing components in our laws had certainly brought down the image of the EC despite its excellent performance in conducting the poll."
He said that as it stands, the EC couldn't even resolve petty disputes during campaign period and have to leave everything to the police or the anti-graft commission.
"The demand by politicians and civil societies for a complete review of the election laws is most justifiable.
"The country should strive to free the election management panel from becoming the subject of electoral issues and dissatisfactions whenever an election is being conducted," he said.
Tomorrow: Gerrymandering and the first-past-the-post system

169. Guilty for frauds by EC

 What the ex EC Chairman is saying now in defence of EC - past and present - is CONTEMPT OF COURT as what he said does influence the decision of the Court case now in proceedings, Joshua 8th Sep, 2013

The official GAZETTE (twice) had full of EC FRAUDS  of the ballot boxes and the final counting etc.. Joshua


http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ec-moves-to-strike-out-pakatan-rakyats-civil-suit-on-ge13-outcome

Malaysia

Election Commission acts against Pakatan’s move to void GE13 results

BY V. ANBALAGAN, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
September 03, 2013
Latest Update: September 03, 2013 05:11 pm

The Election Commission (EC) has challenged Pakatan Rakyat's civil suit to nullify the results of all 222 parliamentary seats in the 13th general election.
The EC filed an application to strike out the suit citing that the action by the opposition and several individuals who lost in the polls challenges the election results in a civil court when it should be through election petitions in the election court.
In the striking out application, the EC said that aggrieved parties could only file petitions to challenge election results once the outcome was gazetted under the Federal Constitution and the Election Offences Act.

Election judges are selected to hear petitions and dissatisfied parties have only one round of appeal before the Federal Court.
The EC filed the application to strike out the suit on August 29 in response to the action filed by the opposition and others.
It said the suit by way of writ was frivolous, vexatious and abuse of court process.
Judge Datuk Rosnaini Saub has given lawyers representing the opposition a month to file an affidavit in reply to the striking out application.
The EC would be given another month to reply to the opposition's affidavit.
On July 15, Pakatan Rakyat besides asking the court to set aside results of all 222 parliamentary seats, also urged that the current EC leadership be disbanded and fresh polls be conducted.
In the statement of claim, the opposition said this unprecedented move was necessary because of the indelible ink fiasco which caused massive cheating.
They also noted that some 30 parliamentary seats were lost by Pakatan Rakyat by fewer than 10% of the votes.
The opposition further claimed that even if the percentage of dishonest voters who voted twice was small, it was sufficient to affect the results in a significant number of seats.
In addition to zooming in on the many instances in which the indelible ink was washed away with relative ease, the plaintiffs - PKR, DAP and PAS - also trained their guns on seven members of the EC.
In addition to the three Pakatan Rakyat political parties, other plaintiffs to this action are opposition candidates Dzulkefly Ahmad, M. Manogaran, Saifuddin Nasution, Arifin Rahman and R. Rajoo, who all lost by narrow margins.
The plaintiff painted a picture of an EC whose partisanship and bias towards Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Barisan Nasional in the run-up to the polls caused it to lose public confidence and stray far away from its stated objectives, as laid out in the Constitution, namely, to be independent and impartial to all political parties.
The plaintiffs argued that the EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and his deputy, Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, are accustomed to accepting instructions from the prime minister and members of the Cabinet, thereby shattering any semblance of neutrality.
Pakatan Rakyat also laid the blame squarely on the commission for the deliberate and fraudulent failure of the indelible ink that allowed voters to vote more than once.
The opposition also sought the following:

• all the EC members be removed from office because of their fraudulent behaviour;
• that until the results of a fresh general election are known, the Federal Government shall remain in office as a caretaker government;
• each of the defendants pay exemplary and general damages to the plaintiffs but without recourse to the Consolidated Fund. -  September 3, 2013.

168. Rotten rolls to give UMNO/BN victory

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=86483

Dubious voters: Ex-District Chief seeks judicial review against EC

Published on: Wednesday, August 21, 2013

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Kota Kinabalu: A former Sandakan District Chief sought leave for a judicial review against the Chairman of the Election Commission over dubious entries in Sabah's electoral roll.
Asainar @ Hasnar M.P Ebrahim claimed that after a statement by the chairman in the local media on May 1, 2013, that there were 60,673 dubious entries in Sabah's electoral roll, he had obtained information about 250 dubious voters in the electoral rolls.
He prayed for an order of certiorari and an order of mandamus to quash or remove all the 250 dubious entries or any part that are found in the electoral rolls of the State and Parliamentary constituencies of Sabah.
He is also seeking an order of prohibition against the respondent to disallow or prevent the 250 dubious entries that are found in the electoral rolls of the State and Parliamentary constituencies of the Sabah from casting their votes in the State Elections or General Elections of Sabah.
He is also seeking a declaration that the registration of the 250 dubious entries is null and void, costs and any other relief deemed fit by the court.
He filed the application through lawyer Marcel Jude.
Marcel said the hearing of the application has been set by the High Court on Sept 4.