THE result for the Gua Musang parliamentary seat, which was won by Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Mohd Azizi Abu Naim in the 2022 general election stands after Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s representative, Mohd Azmi Mahmood, failed to reinstate his election petition to challenge the election results for that constituency.

The Federal Court’s three-man panel led by Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim struck out Azmi’s appeal and ordered him to pay RM30,000 in costs.

The panel’s two other members were Federal Court judges Rhodzariah Bujang and Abu Bakar Jais.

In delivering the court’s unanimous decision, Justice Abang Iskandar said there was merit in the preliminary objection raised by Azizi’s lawyer Yusfarizal Yussoff.

Azmi was appealing against the High Court decision on September 5 this year, which struck out his election petition after he (Azmi) fired his team of lawyers.

Azmi filed the petition on behalf of Tengku Razaleigh to nullify the election result for the Gua Musang parliamentary seat based on among others, allegations of bribery.

Tengku Razaleigh lost to Azizi by just 163 votes. The PN candidate secured 21,826 votes, while Tengku Razaleigh had garnered 21,663 votes.

Yusfarizal raised a preliminary objection saying that Azmi’s appeal was incompetent as he (Azmi) had used the wrong procedure in his attempt to set aside the High Court’s decision.

He said Azmi should go back to the High Court to file an application to reinstate his election petition and not file an appeal to the Federal Court.

Azmi’s lawyer Mohamad Zubairy Hussain said his client should be allowed to appeal against the High Court’s decision.

He claimed that his client is appealing with regard to the non-compliance of procedure by the High Court judge in striking out the election petition. – Bernama, December 5, 2023.