Two different suits against the Election Commission under way

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28,2009 — Malaysianinsider | By Debra Chong and Edward Cheah

The High Court here is hearing two lawsuits filed against the Election Commission (EC) to force it to hold by-elections in three Perak state seats.

Judge Lau Bee Lan is hearing the case in chambers now.

She has been closeted with different lawyers on several different cases since morning.

Toppled Perak Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar is suing the election body for not holding by-elections in Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang after he had declared the seats vacant following his decision to accept the undated resignation letters of its three elected representatives.

Sivakumar also named the three state assemblymen, Jamaluddin Md Radzi, Osman Jailu and Hee Yit Foong, in his suit.

He had declared their seats vacant after they publicly broke their ties with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to become independent state lawmakers friendly to the Barisan Nasional (BN).

A second lawsuit against the EC and the same three assemblymen was filed by another group made up of three former Perak executive councillors (exco) and three Perak citizens.

Chen Fook Chye, S. Sivanesan, Tai Sing Ng were part of the state executive council during PR's 10-month rule which ended in February while Ahmad Sabry, Abdul Latif and Foo Hon Wai are ordinary citizens who are registered voters in the three state seats.

All six claim they have been denied being able to vote in an elected representative of their choice because the EC refused to conform to the assembly speaker's decision and hold by-elections.