PAS will only decide whether to appeal a court decision to quash their 15th General Election (GE15) victory in the Kemaman parliamentary seat after it studies the grounds of judgment for that case, says Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
The PAS secretary-general said the party was currently waiting for the grounds of judgment to be gazetted.
He pointed out that the party had 14 days to decide whether or not to appeal the verdict, and therefore there was no reason for PAS to rush the process.
“At the moment, we are waiting for the recommendation or endorsement from the election court judge under Section 36 of the Election Offences Act,” he said, referring to the judgment.
On Sept 26, the Terengganu Election Court annulled the victory of Kemaman Member of Parliament Che Alias Hamid, who represented PAS in GE15.
Justice Datuk Anselm Charles Fernandis said the petitioner, voter Wan Mohamad Hisham Wan Abdul Jalil, succeeded in proving that corruption had taken place with the aim of influencing Kemaman voters in GE15.
The court also ordered the respondent, Che Alias, to pay RM30,000 to the petitioner.
In his judgment, Justice Fernandis said he found that corruption had been committed with the knowledge of the respondent, as money was given to induce votes.
It was reported that the funds were given out through state government programmes including Bantuan i-Belia and i-Siswa and contributions for the disabled and asnaf (tithe recipients).
“No doubt the state government still existed during that time (because GE15 and state elections were being held separately), but that did not mean that the kind of programmes (fund distribution) should be held so close to the GE date,” Justice Fernandis had said in his judgment.
He said the programmes should have been held after or before the campaign period to avoid elements of inducement.
In June, PAS’ victory in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat was also nullified when the Election Court ruled that there were elements of corruption during the GE15 campaign.
However, PAS and the Perikatan Nasional coalition, which it leads, managed to retain the Kuala Terengganu seat in a subsequent by-election on Aug 12 with an even bigger winning margin of more than 47,000 votes from the over 40,000 it won in GE15.
PAS had won Kemaman in GE15 with a more than 27,000-vote majority.
On Tuesday, Perikatan’s rival, Terengganu Umno, said that it was prepared to face a by-election in Kemaman if PAS did not appeal the Election Court’s decision.
When asked about these election petitions in January, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang characterised such payments as “sedekah”, or charity contributions.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
