KUCHING: United Sarawak Party (PSB) candidate for the Lubok Antu Parliament seat in the 15th General Election (GE15), Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa, today filed an election petition at the High Court to challenge the election outcome for the seat.
Dr Johnicol who filed the election petition at the High Court here today said he was not satisfied with the election outcome after the Returning Officer (RO) for the Lubok Antu Parliament, Richard Ngumbang, refused to entertain his request to recount the votes cast.
He said doubts were cast when the majority was quite small, 100 votes, and it was obtained from the last ballot box that arrived at the tallying centre at about 9.30pm.
"After noticing something suspicious, at about 10.30pm (Nov 19, 2022) I applied for a recount, but the RO did not allow it without giving any reason.
"The last ballot box that arrived at 9.30pm was from the Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Ijok voting centre," he told reporters at the Kuching Court Complex here today.
The Engkelili state assemblyman said it was also questionable that the ballot box arrived at the tallying centre within four hours after the polling centre closed at 5.30pm while the distance between the two locations only required a 45-minute car ride.
Clement Wong. who represented Dr Johnical, said there are three reasons for them to submit the election petition.
Among them is the existence of general corruption or intimidation that affects the election result according to Section 32(a) of the Electoral Offences Act 1954.
In addition, the occurrence of non-compliance with the provisions of any written law relating to the conduct of any election thus affecting the election results per Section 32 (b) of the same act.
The third reason is the existence of corrupt practices related to the election by the candidate with his knowledge and consent or by any agent of the candidate according to Section 32(c) of the same act.
In a four-cornered contest for the seat, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) candidate Roy Angau Gingkoi won after getting 6,644 votes, compared to Johnical who received 6,544 votes, while Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Jugah Muyang garnered 5,360 votes and independent candidate Langga Lias, 746 votes.