The Malaysian Insight

THERE is no vote recount for the Tasek Gelugor 14th general election result at the election court in Penang today. 

It was previously reported that a recount would take place today at the Penang High Court following the decision last month to allow Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Marzuki Yahya’s petition to challenge the election results for the federal seat. 

Marzuki, who is Bersatu secretary-general and Penang party chief, contested the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat in GE14 but he lost to the incumbent Shabudin Yahaya of Barisan Nasional by just 81 votes, which was 0.001% of the total 51,904 votes.

Marzuki’s lawyer Azlina Mehtab Mohd Ishaq said the media misinterpreted the situation in their previous reports on the recounting. 

“There is no recounting today. No announcement of results. We will only study the Form 14s, and then we will have to go back to our clients for further instruction. 

“The court has already fixed January 14 for case management. On that day, we will inform the court of our clients’ decisions,” she said outside the court’s auction room where the Form 14s were presented to the lawyers from both sides for scrutiny. 

Form 14 is the document that confirms the total votes received by candidates at every polling station. 

Marzuki’s other lawyer, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali, and prominent lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who is best known as Prime Minister and Bersatu chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s lawyer, were also present. 

Lawyer Simon Tan, who represented Shabudin in the previous proceedings, was also present. Shabudin, who recently quit Umno and BN and turned independent, was not present. 

The dispute over Tasek Gelugor’s result started on the night of polling day on May 9, when Marzuki said the tallied votes were suspicious. 

Shortly after the elections, he filed a petition to challenge the result. He said there were high numbers of spoilt and unreturned ballots – 689 and 297 respectively – when the majority won by Shabudin was only 81. 

Marzuki also said the EC had denied him a recount when he requested it on election night the votes were counted. 

But in September, justice Hashim Hamzah, who sat as the election court judge, ruled that the petition by Marzuki was “seriously flawed”, cancelling it with cost. 

Hashim said the petition, which did not specify the issue with the election result, had not followed election rules. 

Marzuki then appealed against the decision, leading the Federal Court to send the case back to the election court in Penang. 

Azlina added that the case will still have to go through a full trial, following the Federal Court’s decision. – January 2, 2019.