PUTRAJAYA: Polling day will proceed this Saturday after the Court of Appeal dismissed a voter and a former MP’s appeals to halt the Election Commission (EC) from conducting the general election (GE15).
A three-member bench chaired by Justice Azizah Nawawi said there was no merit in the appeals by Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar, a voter in Pandan, Kuala Lumpur, and former Klang MP Charles Santiago.
Azizah, who sat with Justices Che Ruzima Ghazali and See Mee Chun, said the High Court was right to dismiss the suits on Oct 28 on grounds of non-justiciability.
“The absolute discretion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to accede to the request of the prime minister to dissolve Parliament cannot be brought to court on grounds of non-justiciability,” she said.
Azizah said the EC could not be restrained or prohibited from performing its duty under the Federal Constitution.
“It is not tenable in law as the EC has a constitutional duty to conduct the polls within 60 days once the Dewan Rakyat was dissolved,” she added.
Both appeals originated from actions brought in the Kuala Lumpur High Court which named Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the government and the EC as parties.
On Oct 28, Justice Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid dismissed both Syed Iskandar’s and Santiago’s suits, ruling that the dissolution of Parliament was non-justiciable and could not be entertained by a court of law.
He said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was the ultimate decision maker as to whether to dissolve the Dewan Rakyat if requested to do so by the prime minister.
In dismissing Santiago’s suit, the judge also held that the prime minister was not bound by the Cabinet’s advice and did not need its approval to advise the King to dissolve Parliament.
The three-term MP had sought a declaration that Ismail’s request for the dissolution of Parliament contravened the constitution as it was not made on the advice of the Cabinet.
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