KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — The tribunal investigating alleged wrongdoings of six former Election Commission (EC) members will not result in an early general election no matter the findings, Syahredzan Johan said today,
The political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang pointed out that the only means to challenge an election result is via a petition, and that the time to do so has passed and that the result of the 14th General Election (GE14) has already been gazetted.
“This is an absurd claim, Article 118 of the Federal Constitution clearly provides that the results of an election may only be challenged by way of an election petition.
“The Election Offences Act meanwhile clearly provides that an election petition must be filed within 21 days after the results have been gazetted. Thus, the time to file any petition on the GE14 results has long passed,’’ he said in a statement.
This follows after the tribunal proceedings last Monday descended into chaos when a lawyer appointed by the Attorney General’s Chambers said it was an academic matter since the EC members under investigations had already resigned.
Despite the outcome of the proceedings, Syahredzan said the alleged wrongdoings of these former EC members must be investigated, despite their resignation.
“The former EC members should not be allowed to escape from answering these allegations by way of their resignations,’’ he said.
Yesterday, Attorney General Tommy Thomas also defended the tribunal investigating the former EC members for alleged misconduct, saying that the officers were in service during the period that is being probed.
Putrajaya had announced the setting up of the tribunal on October 17 last year. Five of the EC Commissioners — Tan Sri Othman Mahmood, Datuk Md Yusop Mansor, Datuk Abdul Aziz Khalidin, Datuk Sulaiman Narawi and Datuk Leo Chong Cheong — then resigned the following day.
The last remaining commissioner, Datuk K. Bala Singam, resigned the following month on November 27.
The court was informed on Monday that all their resignations took effect on January 1 this year.
