KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul has declared the Kemaman parliamentary seat as vacant after receiving notification from the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday (Oct 11).
Johari said the EC had sent a letter to the Dewan Rakyat to inform the House of the unexpected vacancy of the Kemaman seat.
This was following a recent Kuala Terengganu election court’s decision to annul the victory of the former Kemaman MP Che Alias Hamid who represented Pas in the 15th General Election (GE15).
"The incumbent Che Alias did not file for an appeal up until the deadline on Oct 10 to the Federal Court following the decision by the Election Judge on Sept 26 which declared the victory in Kemaman on Nov 19, 2022 as annulled.
"Following that, the EC will hold an election to fill the vacancy within 60 days from the date of vacancy," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Sept 26, the Terengganu Election Court annulled the victory of Che Alias, with Judge Datuk Anselm Charles Fernandis saying that there were elements of corruption involved during the Kemaman polls in GE15.
Judge Fernandis said the petitioner, voter Wan Mohamad Hisham Wan Abdul Jalil succeeded in proving that corruption had taken place with the aim of influencing voters in GE15.
The court also ordered the respondent to pay RM30,000 to the petitioner.
On Feb 12, Wan Mohd Hisham's petition was struck out after the High Court accepted the preliminary objections raised by the respondents in the case.
However, the Federal Court, on May 2, overturned the lower court decision and ordered the case to be sent back to the High Court for a full hearing of the merits.
Following the latest decision by the election court, Pas on Oct 3 said the party would not appeal the court’s decision, saying instead it would wait for the next course of action that would be taken by the EC.
