WHP by-election recount results before court

THE final results of the recount of the Western Highlands provincial seat by-election have been brought back to the National Court for its final determination.
Lawyers of petitioner Paias Wingti and Tom Olga went to court on Monday to seek the courts determination on the final results but the petitioner’s lawyer submitted that there were still inconsistency with the outcome of the results and new motions would be filed to argue on the results.
Justice David Cannings issued directions for the parties to file motions and return to court and make submissions but the matter was further adjourned to next month after parities where not prepared to make submissions yesterday.
Mr Olga’s lawyer, Harvey Nii, asked if the court could make a ruling on the decision of the Supreme Court that ordered the recount before hearing other motions.
Mr Nii said the recount, as ordered by the Supreme Court, had already been conducted and the court should declare the person with the highest votes as the winner.
He further told the court that their application on that should be heard first as the petitioner’s application would depend on the outcome of their application.
But the petitioner’s lawyer, David Levy, opposed that his client’s motions be heard first as they were still not satisfied with the outcome of the final results of the recount.
The petitioner’s motion will argue that the results of the recount were different from the figures of the previous recount held in Mt Hagen. 
Justice Cannings told parties that he was prepared to hear motions from parties but the court had not receive any motions or applications from parties as yet.