LLG elections

IT seems that both the Attorney-General (AG) and the Electoral Commissioner (EC) are misleading the people of this country with their differing comments on the Supreme Court’s order on the issue of the LLG elections.
The AG is saying that the Electoral Commission is to go ahead and accept nominations to conduct the elections, as the court order did not stop them from doing so.
The AG is basing his comments on the basis that “the court order stops the Electoral Commission from issuing the writs but the responsibility of issuing the writs is vested with the Minister for Inter-Government Relations and he has done that”.
The AG further says: “So there is nothing stopping the commission from accepting nominations and conducting elections”.
The EC on the other hand, immediately after the Supreme Court’s handing down of its order last week, mentioned that the Electoral Commission would be appealing to set aside the order, so that the LLG elections can proceed.
Then on Thursday (The National, May 2), the EC Patilias Gamato, in an about turn, now says that proceeding with the elections as mentioned by the AG would be in breach of the Supreme Court order, and that the Electoral Commission could be charged with contempt of court.
EC says: “The matter is still before the court. The first part of the court order prevents the issuance of the writs but the second part prevents the commission from conducting the LLG elections. So we cannot defy an existing Supreme Court order, ……….we’ll have to go back through the normal process in court and ask the court to hear our application and decide from there”.
Any layman’s understanding of the Supreme Court order is that, there is a full stop to the elections proceeding until the substantive issues are further deliberated in court, which according to the Chief Justice, might take up six months to year to finalise.
So, whom are we ordinary people to agree with when such conflicting comments are being made, particularly coming from the government’s chief legal advisor, the AG?
Clearly the general public, in particular those aspiring candidates for LLG elections are confused if they can nominate or not.

Lorenitz Gaius
Ketskets village