Pas hopes to hold by-election for Kuala T'ganu simultaneously with state polls

KUALA TERENGGANU - Pas is ready to hold a by-election for Kuala Terengganu parliament as the party has decided not to appeal against the Election Court's decision to invalidate the victory of its candidate.

Its secretary general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said this was decided during the party's Central Pas committee meeting here on Saturday.

He explained that the party decided not to appeal against the Terengganu Election Court's decision to accept a petition filed by a BN candidate to nullify the victory of Pas candidate Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim in the 15th General Election (GE15).

"From a legal point of view, we have the right to file an appeal against the court's decision and even have two options: we appeal or we don't.

"If we appeal, we will have to wait even longer. So for a period of six months from the date of repeal, it can only be resolved because the appeal has to be made in the Federal Court.

"As a responsible party and the government that governs this state (Terengganu), we do not want the people to be neglected because there is no Member of Parliament (MP) in these five or six months," he said to reporters after attending the Central Pas committee meeting here on Saturday.

Also present were Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, Pas deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, Pas vice presidents Datuk Idris Ahmad, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, and Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, as well as Pas electoral director Datuk Seri Sanusi Mohd Noor.

In the meantime, Takiyuddin said that Pas does not rule out the possibility of fielding the same candidate for the seat.

"We have received confirmation that the Court of Appeal's decision is simply to cancel the decision of Kuala Terengganu Parliament on Nov 19, but the candidate who won at Kuala Terengganu level can contest again.

"So we have no problem. Most likely, the same candidate (will be retained) and we are confident (of victory) based on the support received by the candidate in the last general election," he said.

In the meantime, Pas hopes that the by-election for the parliamentary seat can be held simultaneously with the state election on Aug 12.

Takiyuddin said that he is confident that the Election Commission (EC) has the skills and competence to handle both elections simultaneously.

He said that Pas is also confident of maintaining victory in the Kuala Terengganu Parliament based on the majority votes of 40,907 obtained by Amzad.

"We are not arrogant, but based on the support of the people, we are indeed optimistic (that we can win). We hope that, as we decided not to appeal, the EC can hold the by-election simultaneously with the state polls.

"We have three weeks left before the nomination. We are confident that EC has the skills and competence to complete (both state and by-election) simultaneously on the same date," he said.

On June 27, the Terengganu Election Court nullified Amzad's victory after finding elements of corruption during the election campaign.

The decision was made by Judge Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril.

Apart from that, the court also ordered the respondent to pay RM50,000 to the petitioner in addition to allowing the decision to be postponed for 14 days to enable the respondent to appeal and file an official application for the respondent's suspension as an MP.

Terengganu Umno filed a petition on Jan 3 to nullify the result of the Parliamentary GE15 in the High Court here in accordance with the Election Offences Act 1954.

Amzad's victory in the Kuala Terengganu Parliament was nullified.