Monday, May 11, 2009

Court rules Nizar as legitimate MB - Malaysiakini

May 11, 09 10:54am

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today paved the way for a fresh round of battle in Perak by declaring that BN's Zambry Abd Kadir is not the legitimate menteri besar of Perak.

The decision by justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim today rubberstamped ousted Pakatan Rakyat MB Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin's argument that he is still the legitimate menteri besar.

Zambry's lawyer Cecil Abraham's application for a stay of proceedings pending an appeal was also rejected by the court.

The decision is now set to bring about more uncertainty in the state.

Only last Thursday Zambry and the BN coalition had made some inroads on the state assembly by gaining an upper hand by removing the Pakatan appointed speaker V Sivakumar and replaced him with R Ganesan from MIC.

Nizar had sought a declaration that he was the he was the rightful menteri besar and to prevent Zambry from discharging his duty.

The state has been in a political impasse since February after Sultan Azlan Shah urged Nizar to step down and appointed Zambry as the menteri besar.

The sultan's decision was based on the defection of three Pakatan elected representatives to become BN-friendly independents.

Nizar however has questioned the legitimacy of Zambry's appointment and has been pushing for the state assembly to be dissolved so that fresh elections could be held.

Nizar's lawyers previously argued in the court that if he got the declaration, he would seek a fresh mandate to resolve the political deadlock.

At present Pakatan and BN have 28 seats each in the state assembly but the three BN-friendly independents have shaded the power towards the BN side.

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