“Upon inspection of the ballot boxes, the court found 284 additional ballots improperly cast in Kampung Brunei and 54 additional ballots improperly added in SJK Cheng Meng,” he said.

“These had affected the results for the Kimanis parliamentary seat and the Election Commission has been found to be in serious breach of an election offence under Section 32(b) of the Election Offences Act.”

Pending an appeal, today’s court decision could see a by-election called.

Former foreign minister Anifah won the seat for Umno by a narrow margin in a three-cornered fight against Parti Warisan Sabah’s Karim Bujang and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah’s Jaafar Ismail.

Anifah tallied 11,942 votes and Karim, 11,786 votes.

Karim was represented by Frederick Chang and Anifah, a team of nine lawyers led by  Ansari Abdullah. Mohd Zulkarnain was the lawyer for the Election Commission, which was also named in the suit .  

Chang said the judge had dismissed bribery charges against Anifah but allowed the charge of contravention of election laws against the EC.

The court ordered the EC to pay Karim RM100,000 over the improper ballot papers.

Karim, meanwhile, was ordered to pay Anifah RM105,000 for failing to prove bribery and corruption charges against the former minister.

Ansari said his client Anifah would appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported EC chairman Azhar Azizan Harun as saying the commission was ready should a by-election be called.

“As the parties involved have the right to appeal, a by-election will be held only if there is no appeal, or the process of appeal at the Federal Court has been completed.”

He said the EC must fill a seat within 60 days of it being declared vacant. – August 16, 2019.