Pomat applies to intervene in Papua New Guinea Parliament’s legality case
News that matter in Papua New Guinea
Pomat applies to
intervene in Papua New Guinea Parliament’s legality case
PORT MORESBY: The Supreme Court will make a ruling on
whether Speaker Job Pomat can intervene in the case filed by Ialibu-Pangia MP
Peter O’Neill.
O’Neill had filed the
case asking the court ton inteprete the Constitution on various issues.
Justice Derek Hartshorn,
sitting as a single Supreme Court judge in Waigani yesterday (Aug 18, 2022), reserved
his judgment on Pomata’s application to intervene in the proceeding.
The National reported the court’s proceedings:
Pomat applies to
intervene
August 19, 2022The
NationalMain Stories
THE Supreme Court will
make a ruling on whether Speaker Job Pomat should intervene in a case filed by
Ialibu-Pangia MP Peter O’Neill on the interpretation of the Constitution on
various issues.
Justice Derek Hartshorn, sitting as a single Supreme Court judge in Waigani
yesterday, reserved his ruling on Pomat’s application to intervene in the
proceeding.
O’Neill had also sought the court’s interpretation on whether:
- THE election was deemed to have
failed if, according to Section 97 (2) of the Organic Law on National and
Local Level Government Elections, no candidate was declared by Aug 5;
- THE Electoral Commissioner (EC)
had the power under the Organic Law and elsewhere to extend the deadline
of the return of writs beyond Aug 5; and,
- THE EC was in breach of Section
50 of the Constitution by extending the date for the return of writs.
O’Neill is questioning the legality of the
first sitting of the 11th Parliament.
The interveners in the case are the People’s National Congress (PNC) party, the
Attorney General and the Pangu Pati.
Pomat’s lawyer Robert Ranewa said the Speaker should be allowed to intervene
because the questions raised in the application referred to constitutional laws
of national importance.
O’Neill’s lawyer George Kult objected saying that the correct person to
intervene was the Clerk to Parliament and not the Speaker.
He said when Ranewa appeared in court on Aug 9, he was representing the Clerk
to Parliament.
Ranewa explained that it was because a Speaker had not been elected at that
time (Aug 9).
PNC party lawyer David Dotaona agreed with Kult that Pomat should not be
allowed to intervene. State lawyer Troy Mileng representing the
Attorney-General said Pomat should be allowed to intervene because he was named
in the application.
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