Mopingki (second right) with Sitiwin (right) and Chin (left) outside the Election Court yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: A counting agent for Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) contended during the election petition trial of the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat that there was a discrepancy in the result at SK Matunggong polling station.
Mopingki Manuring told Justice Yew Jen Kie on the first day of the trial yesterday that his unofficial result for the votes cast in SK Matunggong polling station did not tally with the official result.
Mopingki testified that his unofficial result for SK Matunggong polling station showed a total of 254 votes cast, with STAR Sabah obtaining 35 votes, PBS-BN 100 votes, SAPP eight votes and PKR 106 votes. There were five spoilt votes.
“However, when the official result was issued for SK Matunggong, the total votes cast were 350 which did not tally with my record,” he said in reply to a question from Sitiwin.
The 57-year-old farmer was the first witness called by PKR candidate Datuk Maijol Mahap who filed the petition on May 12 this year, naming PBS-BN winner Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, the Returning Officer (RO) and Election Commission (EC) as respondents.
Maijol, who is represented by counsel Fulton Mark Sitiwin, among others, questioned the issue on the use of indelible ink, money bribery and the failure to observe election laws, which he claimed had affected the result of the election as a whole.
On August 13, Yew allowed Ongkili’s preliminary objections and struck him out from the petition as Maijol had not pleaded enough facts on the allegation of corrupt practice against Ongkili.
However, she ordered a full trial against the RO and EC. The Kuching-based High Court judge also ruled that Ongkili’s name would still remain in petition as it would depend on the evidence adduced during the trial.
During cross examination by Senior Federal Counsel (SFC) Mahiran Md Isa, Mopingki said at that time he was not satisfied with the vote counting process.
“From the beginning of the vote counting process, I had raised my objection,” he answered to a suggestion by Mahiran.
Mopingki also testified that the presiding officer did not announce the official result obtained by each candidate.
“The presiding officer just kept quiet,” he testified further, adding that after the vote counting process the presiding officer did not do anything.
When asked by Mahiran whether at that time no one knew about the official result, Mopingki answered: “Yes”.
Mopingki disagreed with another suggestion by Mahiran that the presiding officer had prepared the Form 14 for him to sign.
Earlier, in his witness statement, he said from what he could recall, the presiding officer did not give him a certified copy of the Form 14.
“The presiding officer told me that he was under instruction from the RO not to give out any copy of the Form 14,” he said.
Mopingki had then, at that time, asked again for the certified copy of the Form 14 and said that he (Mopingki) must have the Form 14 as it is required under the Election Rules.
“However, the presiding officer still did not want to give me a copy of the form, so I informed the election agent that I could not get the Form 14 to be passed to him,” Mopingki explained.
Under re-cross examination by Sitiwin, he testified that he was not permitted to peruse in greater detail the Form 14 before signing it.
Mahiran was assisted by SFC Zawawi Ghazali and federal counsel Intan Illani Mohd Azani while counsel Chin Teck Ming held a watching brief for Ongkili.
The hearing continues today.