Court rules Nizar as legitimate MB

Court rules Nizar as legitimate MB
May 11, 09 10:54am
The Kuala Lumpur High Court today paved the way for a fresh battle in Perak by declaring that BN's Zambry Abd Kadir is not the legitimate menteri besar of Perak.Justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim then proclaimed Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the rightful Perak menteri besar.His decision rubberstamped ousted Pakatan Rakyat MB Nizar'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 judge said if the Sultan of Perak had wanted to order Nizar's resignation, he should have called the assembly to table a motion of no-confidence against PAS leader. He said that a new menteri besar could not be appointed as the office had not been vacatedThe decision is now set to bring about more uncertainty in the state. Nizar to meet sultanOnly last Thursday, Zambry and the BN coalition made some inroads in the state assembly 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.After the decision, Nizar said that he would be seeking an audience with the sultan immediately to dissolve the state assembly and pave way for a state election.