CHALLENGES TO MARCH ELECTION RESULTS

UNCLAS KUALA LUMPUR 000393 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PGOV MY SUBJECT: CHALLENGES TO MARCH ELECTION RESULTS ¶1. (U) Summary. Losing candidates in Malaysia,s March 2008 elections have filed petitions challenging results in 12 parliamentary districts and 17 state assembly districts. Based on past precedent, such challenges rarely succeed, but the ruling coalition conceivably could regain power in Perak, a state narrowly won by the opposition. End summary. 29 Election Results Challenged -------------- ¶2. (U) The Malaysian Election Commission (EC) announced on May 13 that 29 election petitions were filed in various high courts nationwide to challenge the results of the March 2008 general election. At issue are 12 (of 222) parliament and 17 (of 505) state assembly seats. According to the Malaysian constitution, candidates who object to the election outcomes and who have strong evidence to substantiate their claims may file an election petition to the High Court to review the results. Admissible evidence includes bribery, intimidation or any misconduct that affects the result of the elections; violation of election laws and regulations; corrupt or illegal practice committed by the candidates or their agents; and any issues that may disqualify candidates from contesting. According to the EC Deputy Chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, the majority of the 29 petitioners, complaints involved alleged corrupt practices and disputes over postal voters. Under Malaysian Election law, election petitions must be resolved within six months from date of filing. After the 2004 general election 43 election petitions were filed but all were dismissed by the election courts. The last successful election petition, in July 2001, resulted in a fresh election for a seat in Sabah. Some Key Election Petitions -------------- ¶3. (SBU) According to Wan Ahmad, no election petitions were filed in the Pakatan Rakyat (PA) controlled states of Penang, Selangor and Kelantan or in Barisan Nasional (BN) controlled Melaka, Johor and Pahang. In Perak, however, where the opposition coalition won a slim three-seat majority in the state assembly, as yet unidentified losing candidates of five state seats have challenged the results and therefore the PA,s control of the state conceivably could be at risk. Another petition in Perak involves a more high-profile challenge by the opposition Islamic Party PAS to UMNO Women Chief and former Minister of International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz, who narrowly won a parliamentary sea. A local election monitoring NGO tells us that Rafidah could be disqualified for not having signed all the necessary nomination papers. ¶4. (U) The Peoples Justice Party (PKR) has also filed a petition challenging the win of UMNO Deputy Youth Chief and PM Abdullah son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin in a Negeri Sembilan parliamentary district, charging vote counting irregularities, bribery and intimidation of voters, and use of government resources and facilities by the BN candidate. The Democratic Action Party (DAP) has challenged the results in two parliamentary districts it lost by a handful of votes in Sabah and Sarawak, and the opposition also has challenged narrow victories by several prominent BN figures, including Minister of Federal Territories Zulhasnan Rafique,s Setiawangsa, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Razali Ismail, Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, and UMNO Youth Secretary General Datuk Rahman Dahlan. For its part the BN has challenged wins by PKR Supreme Council Member Zakaria Nordin and DAP Treasurer General Fung Kui Lon. ¶5. (SBU) Comment. As noted above, election petitions rarely succeed, and in any case the petitions stemming from the March election cannot significantly alter the balance of power in Parliament. The ruling coalition conceivably could regain power in Perak, a state narrowly won by the opposition, but this would require the court to overturn the results of several contests in that state, which seems unlikely. In the meantime, the BN reportedly has been attempting to regain power in Perak by enticing a sufficient number of PA members of the State Assembly to defect to the BN side. KEITH