Miri, June 13 – Roland Engan (Left), the defeated Parti Keadilan Rakyat(PKR) candidate for the Baram parliamentary seat in the 13th General Election on May 5, has filed an election petition to nullify the result.
Roland lost to Barisan Nasional (BN) new face Anyi Ngau, former Limbang district officer and Roland’s uncle in a three-cornered fight by 194 votes. He garnered 8,988 votes against Anyi’s 9,182 votes while Independent candidate Patrick Sibat Sujang obtained only 363 votes and lost his deposit.
He filed the petition at the Miri High Court here today and cited as grounds alleged corrupt practices during the campaigning period, failure to adhere election laws by the respondents and questionable results of postal and advance voters.
Anyi has been named as first respondent while Returning Officer (RO) Joseph Belayong Punan as the second respondent .
Today is the last day for political parties or individuals to file election petitions after the GE results were gazzetted on May 22 by the Election Commission (EC).
Later at a media conference, Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian said this would be the only election petition in Sarawak filed by the opposition.
Sarawak BN won 25 parliamentary seats out of the 31 parliamentary seats at stake in GE13.
Yesterday, the BN also filed an election petition for the Sarikei parliamentary seat, the only petition filed by the BN in Sarawak.
– BERNAMA
