Former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock had his appeal on the timing of the reserved election dismissed by the apex court yesterday.

A five-judge panel that included Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon unanimously ruled that the Government has the right to start counting the five terms to trigger a reserved election from that of President Wee Kim Wee.

The Court of Appeal's decision clears remaining legal doubts about Parliament's decision to reserve the election next month for Malay candidates, and paves the way for the Writ of Election to be issued.

Dr Tan said in a Facebook post that he accepted the verdict with a heavy heart as he had wanted to contest the upcoming election.

SEE TOP OF THE NEWS