Five losing PAS candidates from Kelantan filed their election petitions at the Kota Bahru High Court today to challenge the March 21 polls results - a favourable outcome for them would affect the status of a new minister and deputy minister from the state.

The petitions involve two parliamentary seats - Jeli and Bachok - and the three state seats of Air Lanas, Mengkebang and Jelawat, said PAS Kelantan legal advisor Takiyuddin Hasan.

The seats of Jeli and Air Lanas are held by Kelantan Umno liaison chief Mustapa Mohamed, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Dr Awang Adek Hussin is the newly-elected Bachok parliamentarian.

Candidates have 21 days in which to file petitions after the election results were gazetted on April 12 - the last day for filing will technically fall on Monday.

As Saturday (Labour Day), Sunday (Prophet's Birthday) and Monday (Wesak Day) are all public holidays, the last working day for petitions will be Friday.

Opposition round-up

This is the second batch of election petitions from PAS, following two filed on April 19 at the Penang High Court.

"The five (latest) petitions were filed on the grounds that bribery and corruption were involved, as well as non-compliance with the Election Offences Act," Takiyuddin told malaysiakini.

The lawyer and Bunut Payong state assemblyperson expressed confidence that PAS has a strong case in all five petitions.

"We have witnesses who are prepared to testify that they were bribed by Barisan Nasional (BN) representatives. Police reports had earlier been lodged in some of these cases," he said.

PAS had previously said the party would file 11 election petitions in Kelantan, but Takiyuddin today explained that the number had to be reduced due to insufficient evidence.

In Terengganu, PAS vice-president and election campaign director Mustafa Ali said the petitions would involve three parliamentary (Marang, Dungun and Kuala Terengganu) and three state seats (Jertih, Sura and Cukai).

Mustafa said the Sik parliamentary seat election result in Kedah is also likely to be challenged, but PAS is still mulling over the election petitions that may be filed in Selangor and Johor.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) vice-president Mohd Azmin Ali said a decision on the matter would be made at the supreme council meeting today.

DAP had earlier said that its petitions would involve Pandamaran, where its candidate Tee Boon Hock lost by 431 votes to BN's Teh Kim Poo.

Party leader Ngeh Koo Ham said decisions are pending for three other seats and would depend on the evidence available. He heads the DAP legal team for election petitions.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) vice-president Dr D Jeyakumar said he would not file a petition after losing the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat to MIC chief S Samy Vellu, as the "evidence is not strong enough".

BN decisions

While MCA has said it plans to challenge the outcome in Bukit Bintang, Kota Lama and Pantai Remis, this has not been done to date.

Gerakan secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye said the party would not be challenging the results in any of the seats where it fielded candidates, while Umno - BN's biggest component party - has yet to confirm its plans.

Acting Umno deputy president Najib Abdul Razak said yesterday that state chairpersons have been told to identify the constituencies where irregularities had been alleged, adding that lawyers would be engaged soon to verify if there is basis for petitions.

De facto

law minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad was earlier reported as saying that at least 12 petitions are likely to be filed by parties in both the ruling coalition and opposition ranks.

The report said the sole seat held by Keadilan currently - the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat - would be challenged by the losing BN candidate Pirdaus Ismail.

But contacted today, Pirdaus said: "I am unaware of it, I am just a newcomer in politics and a first-time contestant in a general election. I am not familiar with the (petition) procedure".

Political pundits are expecting the highest ever number of election petitions this time around, given the number of claims already made by various quarters about irregularities.

In the 1999 general election, 23 petitions -involving 14 parliamentary and nine state seats - were filed.