EC objects to lawsuit over incomplete army camp’s voter registration, says internal appeal available

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — The Election Commission (EC) has objected to a lawsuit over its registration of 949 voters at an uncompleted army camp in Segamat, arguing that those seeking to challenge the registration should have appealed internally to the EC first.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who represented the 48 Segamat voters that filed the lawsuit, said the EC had argued that his clients should have first used up all appeal avenues outside of the courts.

Gobind said his clients argued that the court has the powers to hear their lawsuit despite alternative appeal methods.

“If they could show ‘exceptional circumstances’ such as when laws or regulations or the right to be heard are not complied with.

“In this case, we said the complaint is clear, the applicants were not given the right to be heard, their complaint is that the camp has not been completed; where Hansard from Parliament where the deputy defence minister had confirmed that was raised and that was ignored.

“In that situation, we argue there is a case of exceptional circumstances that allows the court to continue hearing the application for judicial review,” he told reporters after a hearing in chambers before High Court judge Datin Azizah Nawawi on the preliminary objection.

Gobind said there are legal rules where voters can appeal the EC’s decision in local enquiries or public hearings, noting that his clients have appealed to the EC but should still be allowed to continue with their lawsuit.

“The law is clear, to my understanding, even though there are alternative remedies available, if you have established exceptional circumstances...you can come to court for a judicial review,” he said.

The EC’s Johor electoral registrar Shafie Taib had last December heard and dismissed the objections of voters against the inclusion of the 949 army personnel and their spouse in the electoral roll due to their purported location at an army camp that is still under construction.

Lawyer Michelle Ng, who also represented the 48 voters, said her clients had appealed to the EC registrar and their appeals were being heard throughout this week from January 4 to January 7.

She said the EC today cited Regulation 20 of the Elections (Registration of Electors) Regulations 2002, where objectors unhappy with a registrar’s decision may further appeal to an adjudicating officer.

Gobind said Azizah will deliver her decision on the preliminary objection by the EC on January 8.

On December 14 last year, 48 Segamat voters had filed for judicial review against the EC and the Johor electoral registrar Shafie Taib.

The 48 voters are seeking a court order to quash the entry and retaining of the 949 voters’ names in the supplementary electoral roll of the third quarter in 2017, as well as a declaration that the entry of the names in the same supplementary electoral roll is unconstitutional.

The 48 voters argued that the entry of the 949 voters' names had violated Article 119 of the Federal Constitution and was unreasonable, irrational and unbalanced.

They also argued that the local enquiries held to hear the objections to these entries had violated natural justice and amounted to procedural impropriety.

On December 20 last year, the 48 voters obtained an interim stay of the certification of the entry of these names until the end of the lawsuit.

According to an affidavit filed by the 42th applicant Tey Kim Suan in court, a gazette dated October 23, 2017 had shown that the 949 army personnel and their spouses would be included in the supplementary electoral roll as voters in the P140 Segamat parliamentary seat and vote in the Segamat Camp locality.

The affidavit said however that a notice board at the Segamat Camp that has since been removed had stated that the army camp is expected to be completed by April 16, 2018.

Tey said objectors at the local enquiries held in December 2017 were not allowed to have lawyers represent them or to have interpreters, claiming that the army personnel had failed to show proof that they were Segamat residents or that the Segamat army camp has been completed.

He further claimed that the electoral registrar had, during the local enquiries, not taken into account the Hansard on November 27, 2017 where Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Johari Baharum had confirmed the camp was not completed, adding that the army personnel's representative had not replied when asked for the date of receipt of a purported list of army personnel that were transferred to Segamat.