Court to rule Election Returning Officer's case on Sept 1
News that matter in Papua New Guinea
Count progressing … Sumkar officials collecting counted ballot papers to be sealed and await quality checks before the elimination process begins this week.
Court to rule Election Returning Officer's case
on Sept 1
PORT MORESBY: A magistrate’s court in Wewak will rule
whether a General Election 2022 (GE22) official, accused of breaching the ballot
counting process for the Angoram seat in East Sepik, has been charged
appropriately.
Magistrate Francis Fingu
yesterday also extended Election Returning Officer (RO) John Kambak’s bail which he said would allow him to
return the election writ before the formation of the Government (for the 11th
Parliament).
Fingu fixed Sept 1, 2022
for his ruling.
PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces the court proceedings and a few GE22 news updates as reported by The National:
Court to rule RO’s case
August 3, 2022The NationalMain Stories
Wewak Court magistrate Francis Fingu made the ruling after Angoram returning
officer John Kambak appeared for mention yesterday.
Magistrate Fingu also extended Kambak’s bail which he said would allow Kambak
to return the writ before the formation of government.
He adjourned the matter to Sept 1 for a ruling.
It was alleged that during the process of counting the ballot boxes for the
Angoram seat, Kambak failed to conduct ballot returns and quality checks with
scrutineers, to balance the figures.
Kambak was also allegedly involved in the handling of a ballot box from
Karawari village to Wewak and back.
East Sepik police commander Supt Albert Beli said earlier that the alleged
incident was reported on Friday by the five candidates contesting the Angoram
seat.
“Candidate Charles Andrew and four other intending candidates reported the
incident which led to the arrest of the returning officer,” he said.
Beli added that the alleged incident occurred on July 17 at the Angoram
counting centre.
RO decries disruptions to counting
August 3, 2022The NationalMain Stories
COUNTING for the Moresby North-West (MNW) seat was suspended on Monday night after officials were threatened with a court order, returning officer Vincent Manukayasi says.
He said with only three boxes remaining to complete the primary count, the team inside the Public Institute of Leadership and Governance (Pilag) hall received word that the candidates and their supporters were outside the gate to deliver a court order.
“I suspended counting after six of nine boxes were completed and we had three remaining to complete ward seven,” he said
Manukayasi said there are four boxes in dispute – three from ward one and one from ward 10.
“I was informed of a court order to stop counting at about 9pm last night (Monday), so I suspended the counting but didn’t allow the order to be served because it was late,” he said.
The RO said his team waited all morning yesterday but the court order was not served.
He was then advised by the Public Solicitor that there was no such court order.
“We should have completed those three boxes and moved on to quality check today (Tuesday),” he said.
He said counting resumed yesterday afternoon.
Manukayasi said he was concerned that continuous disruptions were preventing the counting and declarations from being made.
“The candidates and their supporters have been using every means possible to delay the counting, it seems.
“We have been suspending and restarting counting every second day since the beginning of the counting due to various concerns raised by the candidates ,”he said.
Candidate moves to stop Kabwum declaration
By BEVERLY PETER
THE National Court
will rule tomorrow whether to stop any declaration for the Kabwum open in the
General Election 2022 (GE22).
This follows the application by Kabwum open candidate Hearing Qoreka through
his lawyer Mark Alu before Judge Joseph Yagi at the Waigani National Court
yesterday.
Alu said they sought to restrain the Electoral Commission, Commissioner Simon
Sinai and its agents from declaring an MP for Kabwum pending the case.
“This is because 60 per cent of the ballot papers for the electorate were
burnt,” he said.
Alu said Qoreka and others were concerned the EC would declare a winner despite
this glaring issue.
He said EC, Sinai, Kabwum open returning officer Keteng Ondop and Morobe
election manager Simon Soheke were aware that the electorate’s ballot papers
were burnt on July 17 but took no measures to ensure the an equitable outcome
was reached.
Alu added that the EC had not acted immediately on section 96 (A) of the
Organic Law.
State lawyer Russel Uware who represented the EC and Sinai, however, said that
the application was an abuse of process as the election process was still
ongoing.
Assistant returning officer resigns from post
on medical grounds
By PETER WARI
SOUTHERN Highlands provincial assistant returning officer Joseph Timothy
tendered his resignation on Friday on medical grounds.
Timothy said the stress and pressure placed on election officials from all
stakeholders in the General Election 2022 (GE22) had affected them in different
ways and his health had been impacted.
“Sadly I am resigning based on medical grounds,” he said.
“My body may not be able to continue to cope with the pressure, restlessness
and stress of this election and I have also an underlining medical history.”
Timothy thanked the PNG Electoral Commission for its confidence and entrusting
him with the electoral duty.
He acknowledged his fellow electoral officials and scrutineers and others who
had contributed to ensuring the election in the province had been trouble-free.
Timothy wished them all the best in completing the election process for the
province.
SHP election manager Alwin Jimmy confirmed Timothy’s resignation and thanked
him for his service to the province.
Inset: Rai Coast
counting officials cramped up at the United Church recreational hall. –
Nationalpic by GLORIA BAUAI
NCD regional count suffers more delays
By LULU MAGINDE
COUNTING for the
National Capital District’s (NCD) Regional seat has suffered from further
delays after the arrest of two counting officials, with concerns now growing
over transparency of the process.
Assistant Commissioner of Police for NCD and Central, Anthony Wagambie Jr, who
was at the Rita Flynn Complex yesterday to accompany Electoral Commissioner
Simon Sinai to the venue, confirmed that counting would resume since the
election manager Kila Ralai was present to brief them.
However, by 2.20pm, The National observed that counting still
had not resumed as announced and Ralai, when contacted said he was still in the
process of settling some matters.
Scrutineers of certain regional candidates said that over the weekend, their
candidates had presented a petition to the NCD Metropolitan Superintendent
Gideon Ikumu, raising a number of concerns about how counting had been
conducted so far.
The petition stated, upon an approved re-count of all the boxes, officials and
scrutineers had found 1,109 ballot papers from three boxes in Wanigela did not
have corresponding serial numbers for the books allocated to that area which
caused the suspension of counting even further.
Ikumu confirmed with The National that he had received a copy
of the petition that was originally presented to Ralai and his assistant but
did not disclose its contents.
The National was told by an Electoral Commission official, that
Sinai visited Rita Flynn after lunch yesterday and advised Ralai and other
officials present to ensure that counting continued so that the writ could be
returned by Friday (Aug 5).
Court reserves ruling on North-West count
By CLARISSA MOI
THE National Court has
reserved a ruling on an application filed by Moresby North-West candidate Isaac
Lupari and other candidates in the electorate seeking to engage the functions
of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Lupari through his lawyer Gloria Salika moved an urgent application at Waigani
yesterday before Judge Joseph Yagi seeking the enforcement of the functions of
EC officials.
Lupari and fellow candidates Dr Thaddeus Kambanei, Anna Bais, Jackson Kiakari,
Desmond Yaninen, Allan Nanguromo, Togaro Asiba and Walter Yangomina claimed
that there were allegations around polling such as double voting and tampering,
among others.
Lupari said complaints had been raised during counting.
He said despite this, the EC had failed to respond at that time.
Moresby North-West assistant returning officer Tamasi Toua, returning officer
Vincent Manukayasi, National Capital District election manager Kila Ralai,
Sinai, EC and State were named as defendants in the proceeding.
On July 20, a decision was issued to Toua, Manukayasi and Sinai to refuse to
exclude from scrutiny marked ballot papers comprising votes from ward one at
the polling places located at Hanuabada, Elevala, Mirigini and Gabi.
This is because those ballot boxes were allegedly tampered with and the
integrity of the ballot papers contained in them were compromised.
The plaintiffs also sought relief that the extension of dates for the return of
writs was in breach of the Organic Law.
The plaintiffs sought an order that the granting of leave would stay the
counting of ballot papers for Moresby North-West pending a hearing and
determination of the substantive matter.
Representing the defendants, Russell Uware, from the Solicitor General’s
office, said leave should not be granted because it was a preliminary issue and
this proceeding filed by way of a judicial review was an abuse of process.
North-East quality checks begin
By HELEN TARAWA
A RELIEVED Moresby
North-East returning officer Billy George says primary counting has been
completed with quality checks underway.
George told The National that it had been almost four weeks of the electoral
process from nomination to polling and counting and the electorate was finally
nearing the end of the process.
He said a total of 194 boxes out of 201 for MNE were counted.
George explained that the seven boxes were for the areas that did not vote
including five for ATS settlement, one for 6-Mile and another for Manu auto
port.
“We are now going into quality checks and eliminations will be tomorrow
(Wednesday) and the sooner the better for the declaration to be on Thursday
morning,” he said.
“We want to get it over and done with so everybody can continue with their
lives and normalcy returns.”
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