KL's MP forced to vacate seat

KL's MP forced to vacate seat

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): A senior Malaysian opposition Member of
Parliament was forced to vacate the seat he won in recent polls
after a high court found his victory invalid, the national
Bernama news agency reported yesterday.

Razaleigh Hamzah, a former cabinet minister but now arch-rival
of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and president of the Semangat
46 party, will have to recontest his Gua Musang seat in
Malaysia's eastern Kelantan state through a by-election.

The high court in Kelantan's state capital, Kota Baru, made
the ruling after Hussein Ahmad, a candidate from Mahathir's
United Malays National Organization (UMNO), protested his loss of
the seat to Razaleigh by a technical default in April polls.

Hussein's nomination papers for the Gua Musang seat were
rejected by the Election Commission after he made a mistake
filling in his address.

The court ruled on Tuesday that he should not have been
technically defaulted.

No date has been set for the by-election.

Several other government and opposition candidates who lost
the chance to contest the elections due to technicalities are
appealing in Malaysian courts.