Kuala Kangsar election petition dismissed - Malaysiakini

By Athi Veeranggan

The Ipoh High Court today dismissed an election petition that challenged the victory of former minister Rafidah Aziz in the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary constituency.

Election Judge Zakaria Sam ruled that Rafidah's "silly mistake" in failing to sign two out of three sets of her nomination papers in the March 8 general election was not a proper reason to nullify the final outcome.

He added that the election for the seat proceeded freely, fairly and without any corrupt practices.

"Her presence at the nomination centre to submit her papers was enough to prove her consent to accept the nomination to contest," he said.

Since signing and submitting nomination papers were merely part of an electoral process, he said Rafidah's mistake was unsubstantial for the election officer to neither reject her candidacy nor stop the election process.

Moreover, the petitioner did not mention any other wrongdoings like corrupt practices in his affidavit, other than on the ‘missing signature', he added.

He said non-compliance to the requirement to sign all three nomination papers would not have affected the election results anyway, stressing that "it was a mere technical error.'

[More at http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/85558]