Yong filed the application on June 28 seeking an Order of Certiorari to quash the verdict by Muhammad Kamil who was the Election Judge in the consolidated Election Petition for Likas K5 and K11 (filed by Datuk Harris Salleh and Dr Chong Eng Leong, respectively) as well as the Order of Mandamus, for a fresh trial.

Yong's Counsel John Sikayun emerging from chambers told waiting reporters of the outcome of the ex-parte hearing that went on for more than two hours from 10.30am before High Court Judge Datuk Richard Malanjum.

According to Sikayun, the judge held that he (Malanjum) does not have the jurisdiction to grant the application because his power merely co-ordinates with and is the same as that of an Election Court Judge.

Sikayun cited the judge as basing his decision on the result of a similar petition filed by former Member of Parliament Wee Choo Keong, who was the DAP candidate for Bukit Bintang.

Wee's case was brushed aside by the Federal Court which ruled that an application for an Order of Certiorari cannot be granted by the High Court because the two parties share coordinate jurisdiction.

The Likas election petition was a consolidation of two petitions, including the one by Harris, who was acting President of Bersekutu, who claimed, among other things, that Yong or his agents had used unfair practices in the election by erecting billboards containing false statements and which bore no printer's name and address on them as required by the law.

In his judgement on the petitions filed by Harris and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) candidate Dr Chong Eng Leong, Muhammad Kamil declared the result for the Likas seat null and void.

Yong is not seeking a judicial review on the ruling on Chong's petition which complained of the existence of phantom voters.

Yong of the Barisan Nasional (BN) won the Likas seat with a 4,962-vote majority in a six-cornered contest in the 1999 state election.

Section 36 of the Election Offences Act states that the decision of the Election Judge shall be final and not appealable.