The Malaysian Insight

THE Election Commission (EC) cannot submit its report on the delimitation exercise to the prime minister without including Selangor, High Court ruled today.

Judge Azizul Azmi Adnan said he only granted Selangor’s injunction application because EC did not disagree with the applicants on the interpretation of Section 8 that only one report can be submitted to the prime minister on the exercise.

“EC’s report cannot exclude the state of Selangor,” he said today after hearing submissions from EC and the Selangor government at the Jalan Duta court complex this evening.

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali said the decision is already a big win for Selangor as it continues its legal battle to challenge EC’s redelineation exercise in the state.

“It’s a victory for the people. Not just the people in Selangor but also the rest of the country in safeguarding their rights as voters,” he said.

The Selangor government had applied for an injunction on April 25, to stop EC from conducting the second inquiry on its redelineation exercise in the peninsula until its legal challenge is decided by the court.

It also wanted an order from the court to stop the EC from submitting the report to Prime Minister Najib Razak, who, under the Federal Constitution, will table the findings in the Dewan Rakyat for approval.

Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, previously said the EC’s move to publish the second notice to conduct the second inquiry was in breach of Article 113 (6) of the Federal Constitution.

The provision states that there should be separate reviews for states of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

Azmin said Selangor’s judicial review filed last year was to quash the first notice and had an impact on all the states in peninsula that were under review.

The state’s complaint is that there is malapportionment and gerrymandering in favour of a certain political party in the redrawing of electoral boundaries.

Last October, Selangor filed a legal challenge, to nullify the EC’s notice of delineation, claiming it violated the Federal Constitution in drawing up new electoral boundaries. – July 5, 2017.