PETALING JAYA: While the status quo prevailed in the DAP central executive committee elections (CEC) on Sunday, there was a big surprise as Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong topped party adviser Lim Kit Siang in obtaining the most number of votes in the re-election of the committee.
The following are the results of the polls held on Sunday at the One World Hotel here:
1. Liew Chin Tong - 1,438 (previously 14th)
2. Lim Kit Siang - 1,436 (1st)
3. Karpal Singh - 1,421 (3rd)
4. Gobind Singh - 1,409 (7th)
5. Lim Guan Eng - 1,304 (2nd)
6. Chong Chieng Jen - 1,294 (4th)
7. Anthony Loke Siew Fook - 1,263 (5th)
8. Chow Kon Yeow - 1,203 (13th)
9. Fong Kui Lun - 1,193 (10th)
10. Teng Chang Khim - 1,164 (9th)
11. Tony Pua - 1,158 (8th)
12. Zairil Khir Johari - 1,132 (20th)
13. Teresa Kok - 1,127 (17th)
14. Chong Eng - 1,111 (12th)
15. M. Kulasegaran - 1,088 (15th)
16. Tan Kok Wai - 1,088 (6th)
17. Teo Nie Ching - 1,081 (18th)
18. Boo Cheng Hau - 961 (16th)
19. Nga Kor Ming - 956 (11th)
20. Ngeh Koo Ham - 809 (19th)
A total of 1,725 votes were cast, with 62 spoilt votes.
The results were announced by DAP returning officer Dr Ong Kian Ming at 8.15pm after the voting process ended at 1.15pm.
He said the counting of the votes took time because the party wanted to make sure that the procedures were done in a transparent and careful way.
Ten members were also appointed to the CEC, the same as previously - Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Dr P. Ramasamy, Dr Arrifin Omar, Jimmy Wong Sze Pin, Vincent Wu, Dr John Brian Anthony, Dr Edwin Bosi, Leong Ngah Ngah, V. Sivakumar and Su Keong Siong.
DAP secretary-general Guan Eng said it was a pleasure to see a consistency in the election of the members as it showed the party was sure of its leaders.
"It was a unanimous decision and we are glad the election has turned out the way it did," he said adding that the party will continue to be chaired by Karpal.
The re-election of the CEC followed a directive from the Registrar of Societies to hold fresh polls.
The re-election was held following an order from RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman on July 30, demanding DAP hold new CEC elections as he was not satisfied with the “technical glitch” explanation provided.
There was controversy in the party's last CEC election when Lim's then-political secretary Zairil Khir Johari obtained 803 votes after a re-calculation, as opposed to 305 during the initial count.
On Sept 27, the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck out a lawsuit by Ladang Paroi DAP vice-chairman A. David Dass, who claimed that it was against the party constitution to hold a special congress for the re-election.