KUALA LUMPUR – Incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago will be filing an application at the Federal Court for leave to appeal against the dismissal of his suit to stop the 15th general election (GE15).
This follows a three-member Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss his appeal today, something which Santiago said he “respectfully disagrees with”.
“While I understand (the suit) is academic given the fact that the polling day is on Saturday (November 19), it’s crucial to determine if the federal constitution is the highest law of the land as it clearly states the prime minister acts on the advice of the cabinet.
“The court did not make any findings on whether (caretaker prime minister) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was empowered to unilaterally request for the dissolution of Parliament since it found the matter to be non-justiciable,” Santiago said in a series of tweets today.
He added that while no costs orders were made since this is a public interest litigation case, the appellate court had declined to set aside the high court cost order of RM20,000.
On October 28, high court judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid said that it was the prerogative of the prime minister to dissolve Parliament without having the need to consult with his cabinet members, in accordance with the federal constitution.
Kamal also stated that Santiago’s application is “scandalous, frivolous and abuse of the court process” and should be struck out.
In the summons filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on October 11, Santiago had sought a declaration that the declaration of dissolution contravened Article 40(1) of the federal constitution as the request of the prime minister to dissolve Parliament was not made in consultation with the cabinet.
He named Ismail Sabri, the Malaysian government and the Election Commission as defendants in his suit.
Santiago will not be contesting in GE15 as DAP had elected to field incumbent Kota Kemuning assemblyman Ganabatirau Veraman in the federal seat instead. – The Vibes, November 15, 2022
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