PLANNING THEIR MOVE: Dr Teo (second right), Wong (right) and others at the PKR press conference.
MIRI: The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) plans to file a petition to the Elections Court to nullify the results for Senadin in the recently concluded Sarawak election.
“We are going to petition for a null and void election,” said PKR Selangor assemblywoman for Bukit Lanjan, Elizabeth Wong at a press conference in PKR Miri conference room at Waterfront Commercial Centre here yesterday.
Wong was speaking for PKR candidate Dr Michael Teo who was expected to file the petition to seek a by-election for Senadin.
The counting of votes in the Miri Indoor Stadium on April 16 (Saturday) resulted in a very close fight between Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) candidate and incumbent Datuk Lee Kim Shin, and PKR candidate Dr Michael Teo.
“We requested three times for a recount but were ignored, and he (returning officer Chai Ko Het) proceeded to announce the results without giving us any chance,” said Wong.
PKR deemed its candidate Dr Teo qualified for a recount based on the narrow margin of less than four per cent under prevailing Elections regulations.
Lee obtained 7,344 votes against Dr Teo’s 7,276 votes, and was announced winner by a slim 58-majority votes to the protests of PKR that continuously asked for a recount but was refused by Chai, leading to a standoff between PKR members and the police for about two hours in the stadium until midnight.
Wong claimed to have evidence of irregularities of the polling process.
PKR claimed their detailed results from the 10 polling stations showed Dr Teo leading in all stations except for three.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) will assist in the petition, with newly elected DAP Piasau assemblyman Ling Sie Kiong offering his services to be Dr Teo’s counsel.
Meanwhile, Dr Teo denied that there were two recounts at the tallying centre as reported.