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By MATHEW YAKAI
SOUTHERN Highlands Governor Hami Yawari and other candidates for the
Regional seat will appear in court today to block the counting of marked
ballot papers for Hela regional seat.
Philip Ame, lawyer representing Mr Yawari told the court yesterday they
want the Electoral Commissioner to go ahead and count the ballot boxes
from other electorate except those from Hela region and declare the
winner.
The court proceedings were filed by Mr Yawari and Marley Nandi.
Yesterday, Michael Nali applied and joined as the third plaintiff,
Dickson Tasi applied and joined as the fourth plaintiff and Anderson
Agiru applied and joined as the third defendant.
The substantive matter will be heard today and decision is likely to be
made later this week before the return of writs on Monday next week.
Justice Mark Sevua reminded the parties to be mindful of the time
constraints, given that the writs will be returned on Monday.
He asked the parties to have a conference and consider whether to allow
the commission to recheck the counted ballot papers for Hela region.
The region covers Tari-Pori, Koroba Lake Kopiago and Komo Magarima.
In a conference yesterday, the Electoral commission agreed to recheck
all the ballot papers of the region but the plaintiffs opposed, saying
they should be disregarded and a proclamation of the regional seat must
be made from the results in other electorate.
Plaintiffs were saying the ballot papers for the region had been
tampered with when they were being transported to Mendi and counted
under an agreement between the commission and the regional candidates.
The agreement was later nullified by the court.
The counting of votes for the regional seat is stayed pending a
decision.
 
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