Dion election petition trial starts

THE trial of the election petition case for the East New Britain provincial seat began yesterday  in front of a packed crowd of supporters at the Kokopo national court house.
The petition was filed by former veteran politician, Sir John Kaputin, challenging the win of Deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion in the provincial seat.
The petition names Dion the first respondent, Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen as the second respondent and the Electoral Commission as the third respondent.
The grounds of the petition filed by Sir John were based on bribery during the national elections last year.
Counsel made submissions yesterday to Justice Catherine Davani.
Davani had on Feb 6 rejected an application by Paul Paraka representing Dion to vacate the trial date of Feb 18 but granted him leave to amend the objection to competency.
The objection to competency proceeded yesterday with the submissions from the counsel.
The trial continues today.
Kaputin was represented by Kivu lawyers.