JOHOR BARU, June 12 — Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong has filed an election petition to challenge the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency’s GE14 result at the Johor Baru High Court here today.

Earlier, the 40-year-old DAP politician was expected to file the election petition in hoping the court will reverse his narrow GE14 defeat in the Ayer Hitam to MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong last month.

Liew’s lawyer Datuk Yeo Yang Poh said the case was significant as the court would review the alleged misconducts during the election campaign process, including those on polling day.

"This would help to improve our election process to be efficient and fair if the court looked into the various issues bought by this case,” he said when met outside the Johor Baru High Court premises at Menara MSC Cyberport.

Yeo, who was joined by Liew and other Johor DAP members, gave an example of the issue regarding then Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s face on a billboard that had to be covered up due to vandalism.

Liew said he hopes the outcome of the case can guide Malaysia towards having better procedures in future general elections.

The defendants for the election petition are Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, the Election Commission (EC) and its Ayer Hitam parliament returning officer.

Liew, who was the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Ayer Hitam parliamentary candidate, could only file the petition after the results of the GE14 were gazetted on May 28.

According to the election law, any aggrieved candidates have 21 days from the date to file an election petition.

During the recent GE14, Liew lost by a razor thin majority of 303 votes to Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Wee.

Liew garnered 16,773 votes to Wee’s 17,076 votes. At the same time, PAS’s Mardi Marwan obtained 4,975 votes in the three-cornered contest for the heated central Johor seat.

Liew had recently posted on his Facebook page that he has uncovered evidence of bribery and intimidation during the election and urged those with relevant information to come forward.

In the historic May 9 general election, PH came to power at the federal level and eight states, including Johor.

BN, led by its lynchpin party Umno, which had run the country for over 60 years, only managed to retain three states.