KOTA KINABALU, April 5 — A Sabah party today filed an injunction to stop GE14 from taking place until the number of state seats reverts to 60 from 73.
This comes just after the Sabah Progressive Party filed a suit to compel the prime minister to table Sabah’s 13 new state seats in Parliament.
Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) president Wilfred Bumburing and four others in the party have filed an application in court to prevent an election from taking place until the amendment is declared null or the Election Commission’s (EC) report on the 13 new seats is tabled in Parliament.
“No election can take place unless the 13 new Sabah legislative assembly seats are recognised by Parliament or if the legislative assembly abolishes the 13 new seats,” he said at a press conference here today.
He said his court application also sought a declaration that an election of 60 legislative assembly representatives without having first amended Article 14(2) of the Sabah Constitution, which currently provides for 73, would be unconstitutional.
Bumburing named the Sabah chief minister, the State government, the State Legislative Assembly and the Election Commission as the first, second, third and fourth defendants respectively.
The Sabah state assembly had, in August 2016, passed amendments to its constitution to create 13 more seats, bringing the total to 73 state constituencies. However, the 13 new state seats were left out of the EC’s redelineation report that was passed in Parliament last week, meaning that Sabah is very likely to enter the coming elections with only 60 seats.
Opposition parties have said that the disparity could mean that the election results could be disputed in court.
Sabah Progressive Party president Yong Teck Lee also recently filed a suit against the prime minister and the EC to compel them to table the EC report on the 13 additional state seats at the current Parliament meeting, which ends today.
The local Opposition coalition is seeking a court declaration that the prime minister is constitutionally bound to table the EC report on the additional 13 seats in the Dewan Rakyat in time for the 14th general election.
Yong added the group also sought the court’s declaration that the constitution did not provide any discretionary power to the prime minister not to table the EC report in the Dewan Rakyat.
Opposition leader and Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said that any action to amend or exclude the seats had to go through the State Assembly or Parliament as the highest power.
The 13 new state seats, carved out by the EC, were passed in the State Assembly by 52 votes in favour. Barisan Nasional component parties here were looking forward to the inclusion of the 13 new state seats but have since conceded that they should go through the due process.
