Win for DAP in election courts! - malaysiakini

Malaysiakini's report:

DAP's Fong Kui Lun retained his Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat after his challenger Dr Lee Chong Meng withdrew his appeal in the Federal Court.

Counsel Wan Azmir Wan Majid for Lee told Justice Richard Malanjum he was instructed to withdraw the application.

However, he did not cite any reasons for the withdrawal.

Fong's lawyer Karpal Singh then applied for costs and this was allowed by Malanjum.

Outside the court, a jubilant Fong said this was the right decision as the voters of Bukit Bintang had always been supportive of the DAP.

"This is the victory of the rakyat and I am glad there is no interference by the court," Fong said.

"My counsel applied for costs as for the past general elections, the MCA and BN had filed election petitions for Bukit Bintang without much success. Hence, this time around we applied for costs and I am glad the apex court allowed this," he said.

Also present was Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo.

Failed to meet requirements

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Malanjum heard the matter with justices Augustine Paul and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin.

On April 25 Lee filed a petition in the High Court here seeking to declare the election of Fong as Bukit Bintang MP null and void.

He claimed that Fong, who polled 26,811 votes to win the seat with a 14,277-vote majority in the March general election, was not the duly elected MP.

The High Court dismissed the petition after ruling that Lee had failed to meet the requirements of section 32(c) of the Election Offences Act that he supply material facts on his allegation of corruption by the DAP candidate during polling.

Lee was the BN's candidate for the seat.

Pensiangan, Kuala Kangsar next week

The Federal Court is also scheduled to hear several more election petitions on Jan 15 (next Thursday), namely Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah president Joseph Kurup's Pensiangan parliamentary seat and the Kuala Kangsar seat held by Umno Wanita chief Rafidah Aziz.

The Pensiangan seat fell vacant after the Election Court ruled Kurup's victory to be null and void when PKR candidate Danny Anthony Andipal was found to be in the nomination centre before 10am when the centre was supposed to close its nomination process.

Rafidah's candidacy came into question when the former Minister of International Trade and Industry failed to sign two of three nomination papers during the March 8 general election - malaysiakini.com