Defeated PKR candidate Zaid Ibrahim will file an election petition to declare the outcome of the Hulu Selangor by-election null and void.

He cited allegations of vote-buying and voter transfer among the grounds for his decision.

NONE “In these circumstances, we will file an election petition as soon as my lawyers are ready to do so,” he told a press conference at his house in Tropicana Golf Resort, Selangor, this morning.

“Any voter from Hulu Selangor who wants to volunteer relevant information may do so at any of the PKR, DAP or PAS offices.”

Apart from filing an election petition, Zaid said he will sue the Election Commission (EC) over “breach of constitution”, in the hope that "future elections will be conducted fairly to reflect the will of people".

“We have a case against them. There are so many instances of them failing at their duties. Names of voters were missing from the electoral roll and a whole bunch of voters were suddenly moved to another constituency without prior knowledge.

“The EC is supposed to be an independent and impartial body but this by-election has shown us that they were definitely siding BN.”

Defamation suit

Zaid further said he will take Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia to court over a series of articles referring him as a kaki botol (alcoholic).

NONE “I was never an alcoholic. Whatever I consumed was no more than (Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) and other Umno leaders. They just manipulated everything to get votes,” he charged.

“The EC should not have allowed for such a malicious and false campaign.”

He also said that he is not seeking monetary damages from the newspaper, which is owned by Umno.

“When some people sue, they ask for RM50 million or RM10 million. I don't want the money. I am also happy with just RM1. But if you defame me, I will sue.”

In the run-up to the polls, Zaid had been hit with a smear campaign about his past consumption of liquor and ownership of a racehorse named 'Kelantan', which were equated with ‘drinking and gambling’.

He had said at the time that he would not sue bloggers over their postings, explaining that this would go against freedom of expression.

Zaid, who once owned the country's biggest law firm, disagreed when asked if legal action would be futile.

“In the struggle for change, nothing is futile. We may not get the outcome, but still nothing is futile,” he said.

He denied that he is neither a sore loser nor a frustrated candidate, as he has been described in some quarters.

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