Putrajaya, Nov 13 – The Barisan Nasional (BN) and opposition are discussing over 19 appeals of the election petitions which are pending at the Federal Court, whether it could be reached for a global settelement.
At the outset, Barisan Nasional’s counsels Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun and Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin informed a five-member panel of the Federal Court chaired by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif that the parties were going to discuss for a global settlement.
Also presiding on the panel are Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull (rpt Abdull) Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop, Datuk Hasan Lah and Datuk Ramly Ali.
The court set Dec 2 for parties to inform on the outcome of the discussion.
On Wednesday, initially the court was scheduled to hear the appeals of election petitions from several parliamentary constituencies, among others, Bagan Datoh, Sungai Besar and Kuala Selangor.
Outside the court, Mohd Hafarizam told reporters that there were 19 appeals and the BN had filed less than 20 election petitions of which four were pending appeals.
“We are not going to use the court as a platform to change the government. This is why we (BN) have filed less (petitions) and we appealled less,” he said.
Mohd Hafarizam said the 19 appeals covered among others the parliamentary constituencies of Machang, Ketereh, Batu, Lembah Pantai, Bagan Datoh, Sungai Besar, Kuala Selangor and Titiwangsa, while for state constituencies were Selising, Selama and Manong.
Firoz said parties were in discussion whether the appeals could be reached for a global settlement.
Describing the move as a very positive one for all parties, Firoz hoped that the matter could be resolved amicably and the political parties could reach an agreement on that.
Edmund Bon, who acted for the PKR candidates, confirmed they had agreed to discuss over the settlement.
All the election petitions were struck out by the Election Courts with costs on preliminary objection of non-compliance with Rule 9 and Rule 34 of the Election Petition Rules 1954.
The appellants are appealing to the Federal Court to have their election petitions reinstated and remitted back to the Election Court for determination on its merits, by way of a full trial.
– Bernama
