By-election for Goroka

By LUKE KAMA and GIDEON KINDIWA
A COURT has ordered a by-election for the Goroka Open seat, saying the Electoral Commission had failed to follow a directive when it conducted a court-ordered recount last year.
National Court judge Justice Les Gavara-Nanu said the commission was told to remove the 775 informal votes before the recount, but didn’t.
Henry Ame won the seat from former MP Bire Kimisopa during the 2017 general election.
“I am not able to declare a winner because the 775 informal votes have not been removed before the recount,” Justice Gavara-Nanu said.
“If the petitioner (Kimisopa) is declared the winner, the result would be compromised.
“Or if the first respondent (Ame) is declared, the result would also be compromised. (So) there will be a by-election.” Justice Gavara-Nanu said the primary task of the court was to declare the winner after the recount, but it was compromised. Ame’s declaration as Goroka MP in 2017 is now “void” and the seat declared vacant.
He ordered the Electoral Commission to pay the costs of the court proceedings and to conduct the by-election “as soon as possible”.
Kimisopa filed the petition challenging Ame’s win in 2017 on grounds of “errors and omissions” by the Electoral Commission. He argued that 775 ballot papers had been “misplaced” between the regional and open seat boxes, the returning officer was absent during one of the counting days and the lack of awareness on the limited preferential voting system for scrutineers, candidates and counting officers.
The National Court on May 28 last year upheld Kimisopa’s petition and ordered a recount.
Outside court in Port Moresby yesterday, Ame said although he was not happy with the court decision, he respected and accepted it.
“I may accept the decision out of respect for the court but I do not necessarily have to and I do not accept the validity of the decision thereof,” Ame said.
He is keeping open the option of challenging the decision in the Supreme Court.
Ame said he had scored 24,159 votes to Kimisopa’s 22,210 – a difference of 19497.
“The manual and electronic counts of the recount (last year) confirmed about the same 24,161 votes for me and 22,218 votes for the petitioner – a difference of 1943 votes,” he said.
He appealed to his supporters and the people of Goroka to respect the court decision.
Also outside court yesterday, Kimisopa termed the ruling “fair”.
He also urged supporters of both sides to respect the court’s ruling.
“The people of Goroka now have the chance to once again choose a leader and we hope that the Electoral Commission, as the custodian of this important franchise, does it well this time,” he said.