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By ELIZABETH MIAE
THE Family & Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC) and civil society
groups have called on legislators to make changes to our laws to prevent
individuals who have been convicted of crimes or dismissed from office
to stand for elections.
Members of the various groups met last Friday and invited PNG Electoral
Commission’s lawyer Prof John Nonggorr to clarify provisions of the law
that allowed convicted rapist James Yali to stand for election.
Questions were raised as to how Mr Yali was allowed out of prison to
nominate and why the Electoral Commission allowed it to take place.
Prof Nonggorr told the meeting that he had advised the Electoral
Commissioner to accept Yali’s nomination based on section 103 (4) of the
Constitution that he (Yali) was convicted but his appeal to the Supreme
Court on his conviction was pending, which preserved him his rights to
stand for election.
Added to that, he was still a Member of Parliament until the writs were
returned.
He said questions on how Yali got out of prison to nominate and who
allowed it would be addressed in court, and that was not for him to
comment on.
He also advised the group not to stage any protests and let the Supreme
Court decide whether to uphold Yali’s appeal on his conviction or not
according to the law.
“We need to go back to the electorates and educate the people to choose
the right leaders,” he said.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court upheld Yali’s conviction last Friday.
 
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