Supreme Court upholds Manase’s application to stay recount

THE Waigani Supreme Court has stayed a court-ordered recount for the Kandep Open seat after upholding an application by Kandep MP Alfred Manase to review.
A three-man Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, Justice Ellenas Batari, and Justuce Jim Wala Tamate made the order after finding that all parties had a common position on the application.
Justice Tamate, who delivered the decision on behalf of the bench, said the provisions vested in the court gave power to “this court to grant stay in respect of National Court proceedings pending a review by this court.”
Manase previously filed two review applications seeking dispensation of the Supreme Court rules to review interlocutory decisions on an election petition filed against him by former Kandep MP Don Polye.
The two applications sought orders of the Supreme Court to review a decision on an objection to competency of the petition, and a decision on a no-case submission which went before the orders, which granted a recount for the seat, on July 4.
Polye, who was the first respondent in the matter, submitted that Manase did not have a stronger right to be granted a stay; the application would not be rendered nugatory if the stay was not granted and that he (Manase) would not suffer any prejudice; and, the grant of stay was not in the interest of justice. However, the bench upheld that a stay would preserve the status quo for the convenience of all parties. “This court upholds the review,” Justice Tamate said.
“This would lead to so many unnecessary costs being incurred by all parties and a significant waste of the court’s time.”