KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the government and the Election Commission (EC) have applied to dismisss the lawsuit by incumbent Klang MP Charles Santiago seeking an injunction against the 15th general election.
According to the documents seen by Malay Mail, the application filed with the High Court Registrar’s Office here today argued that the lawsuit contained no cause of action against the defendants.
It further contended that the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) in declaring the dissolution of the 14th Parliament under his constitutional powers were not non-justiciable.
“The issue of the legality of the request for the dissolution of the 14th Parliament by the First defendant to the YDPA on October 9 is academic because the YDPA has already approved the request under Article 40(2)(b) and Article 55(2) and subsequently dissolved Parliament.
“The declaration and dissolution of Parliament is the power of the YDPA under the Federal Constitution which the judiciary as the guardian of justice needs to preserve this constitutional principle,” said the defendants in the filing.
Article 40(2)(b) provides the Agong with the discretion to decide requests for the dissolution of Parliament while Article 55(2) accords him with the power to prorogue or dissolve Parliament.
On October 12, Charles sought a court order to stop GE15 from being held this year, even though Parliament had been dissolved.
He explained that he was taking the court route to prevent another possible disaster from happening, recalling that Klang was one of the worst-hit places during the December 2021 monsoonal floods.
Based on court documents sighted by Malay Mail, Charles is seeking several declarations from the court.
Among them is for the court to declare that Ismail Sabri request to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament last Monday to be unconstitutional.
