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From street to courtroom: Judicial electoral contestation
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COMMENT | Malaysians are gearing up for heated polls in the 14th general election. Caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and his party Umno, which has in office since 1957, aim to perpetuate their tenure.

Many do not fully realise, however, that for the past three years there have been intense battles in the courtrooms, which continue to cast an unconstitutional shadow over the election. Minimally, the legal challenges have raised serious questions about the fairness of the electoral process and the nature of political power in Malaysia.

When Malaysia’s electoral reform process began in 2007, the focus was to head to the streets to draw attention to the country’s uneven electoral playing field.

Bersih moved from an opposition vehicle to a broad civil society movement. From 2011, the movement was led by lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, whose leadership brought out thousands of Malaysians to rallies, and culminated in a People’s Tribunal in 2013, outlining serious irregularities in that year’s election.

That year, the chair of Bersih was taken over by Maria Chin Abdullah, a social activist, who ironically spearheaded fierce legal challenges over the electoral process until her resignation last month to stand as a candidate.

A broad range of stakeholders, including pro bono lawyers, opposition parties, state governments and, importantly, ordinary voters, have instituted an unprecedented number of legal challenges over...

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