[UPDATED] Federal Court rules Hadi remains Marang MP

KUALA LUMPUR – PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang remains as Marang MP with the Federal Court’s dismissal today of a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate’s appeal. 

The appeal was made against the Election Court’s ruling upholding the PAS president’s victory in the 2022 general election.

In delivering the verdict, a three-member bench chaired by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim ruled that Jasmira Othman failed to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt. 

The appeal has been dismissed with no order to costs, Free Malaysia Today quoted Abang Iskandar as saying.

The judge said Jasmira had failed to prove that Marang voters were induced to elect Hadi, citing a previous Federal Court ruling that the petitioner must prove that agents (to bribe voters) had been appointed. 

In June, the election court in Terengganu ruled that Jasmira, of Umno, had failed to raise reasonable doubt and dismissed the case. The court dismissed Jasmira’s challenge and he was ordered to pay Hadi RM50,000 in costs. 

This is the last of three election petitions filed by Terengganu Umno in January to challenge the results of the general election held in November 2022. Besides Marang, the other two seats were Kuala Terengganu and Kemaman. 

The election court in June invalidated the result of the general election in Kuala Terengganu, which then held its by-election on August 12, in which the incumbent, Perikatan Nasional’s Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim, retained the seat. 

In September, the election court nullified the victory of PAS’ Kemaman MP Che Alias Hamid, and a by-election will be held on December 2. – November 15, 2023