Vote recount for Tasek Gelugor seat on Jan 2
GEORGE TOWN: The Election Court here will recount the votes for the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary constituency in an open court on Jan 2 after Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Marzuki Yahya’s appeal was granted.
Marzuki, who lost the Tasek Gelugor parliamentary seat by 81 votes in the 14th general election, was appealing the High Court’s decision to dismiss his election petition.
Justice Hashim Hamzah, who sat as the Election Court judge, allowed the application since the petition was to recount the number of votes.
In September, the petition was dismissed by the Election Court here due to technicalities in the petition.
Marzuki then appealed against the Election Court decision at the Federal Court.
His counsel Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said a leave was applied for all the Form 14s to be brought to court and recounted.
Muhammad Rafique added that the court ordered the Election Commission (EC) to bring all the Form 14s for Tasek Gelugor, break the seal and be scrutinised by lawyers of both parties before the Election Court on Jan 2.
“The Form 14s are final tallied results from each polling district, a grand total of which are used to determine who has won.
“The petition went to a retrial after the Federal Court decided the case must be heard at the Election Court again, as it concerned the number of votes,” he said.
Muhammad Rafique said all 136 Form 14s from each polling district will be checked to determine the exact number of votes for each candidate.
“Each Form 14 will be counter checked with the EC’s official records, and copies that are held by
Barisan Nasional and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.
“If the numbers differ in the Form 14, which is sealed in a box compared to the one Barisan has, it would be awkward.
“This will definitely lead to there being a re-election,” Muhammad Rafique added.
Marzuki, a senator from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, was defeated on May 9 by the Barisan
Nasional incumbent Datuk Shabudin Yahaya, who polled 18,547 votes.
The Pakatan Harapan candidate obtained 18,466 votes while Rizal Hafiz Ruslan of PAS got 14,891 votes.