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Friday, August 7, 2015

Election Commission wins appeal on Sarawak boundary redraw notice

The Election Commission has successfully appealed against a High Court decision to set aside its redelineation exercise for Sarawak. The Election Commission has successfully appealed against a High Court decision to set aside its redelineation exercise for Sarawak.The Election Commission (EC) today won its appeal to set aside a High Court decision nullifying the commission’s redelineation exercise for Sarawak, which increased the number of state seats from 71 to 82.
In a unanimous decision, a three-man Court of Appeal bench ruled that EC's notice to redraw the state's electoral boundaries did not breach voters' constitutional rights and was in accordance with the 13th Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
The Kuching High Court had in May declared EC's notice null and void and ordered the notice republished.
Yew had said it was essential for EC to publish the electoral roll, the list of proposed changes and the areas affected so the public would know how they would be affected by the redelineation.
But the appellate court said today it was factually wrong for the High Court to have said that the details of the proposed recommendations have not been disclosed by EC.
"The High Court had stretched the meaning of the word 'effect' in Section 4(a) of the 13th Schedule beyond permissible limits.
"There is a distinction between a requirement to state the effect of a proposed recommendation and a requirement to disclose details of the recommendation," judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli said in reading out the full judgment.
The court also held that the procedure prescribed in Section 4(a) read with Section 5(b) of the 13th Schedule did provide for an effective mechanism through which registered voters can ventilate their concerns and opposition to the proposed recommendations and to make their counter proposals.
"The enquiry under Section 5(b) of the 13th Schedule is the proper forum to decide on any objection to the proposed recommendations, not the court.
"For the court to do so would be to usurp the powers of EC as provided by the Federal Constitution," said Rahman, who sat with Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Tan Sri Idrus Harun.
He said the court also did not find that voters' rights to make a representation under Section 5(b) had been impaired by EC's failure to state detailed particulars of the nature mentioned by the High Court judge, adding that the respondents' allegation that their right to make a representation was impaired, is unsupported by evidence.
"The allegation is based purely on belief," he said.
Lawyer Datuk Dr Cyrus Das appearing for the respondents, said that they would appeal today's decision given the importance of the case.
He also wanted to know what stage of the redelineation exercise EC was at, and asked if the polls body would be halting the process pending the respondents' appeal.
This is so that they could decide on the necessity to file a stay application.
Federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad informed the court that EC was in the process of preparing a report on the redelineation to be submitted to the prime minister.
The court made no order as to costs.
- TMI

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