​90 state lawyers to supervise counting

State lawyers from the Office of the Public Prosecutors, Solicitor General and State Solicitors will be engaged in providing legal advice to the Electoral Commission over the counting period.

A total of 90 lawyers will be stationed across all counting venues to supervise counting and at the same time undertake on providing legal advice to electoral officers when the need arises.

Secretary of the Department of Justice and Attorney General, Dr Lawrence Kalinoe, announced this following a request made by the Electoral Commission.

He said lawyers will be deployed to the provinces two days before counting commences. The timing will also be subject to the financial support of the Electoral Commission.

Kokopo, Lae, Madang, Vanimo, Goroka, Mt Hagen, Kundiawa, Wabag and Mendi already have lawyers stationed there from one or all of the three legal offices.

They will be utilised in the exercise while the bulk of lawyers will out from Port Moresby.

Previously private law firms were engaged in such exercises during election periods, which has seen high costs incurred by the Electoral Commission.

The exercise will cost K600,000 and Dr Kalinoe said this is substantially less than the K15 million that was spent on private law firms in the 2012 National Elections.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato early this week said K19 million remains outstanding for legal costs alone from the previous election, most of which was costs of election petitions.  

Dr Kalinoe assured the Electoral Commissioner that all lawyers will perform their responsibilities under strict codes of conduct.

“I would like to take the opportunity to commend the Electoral Commissioner for taking the initiative and having confidence in our state lawyers.

“I assure him that the lawyers will do their utmost best in providing the Electoral Commission the legal service it needs during the 2017 National Election counting period,” Dr Kalinoe added.

(Pictured are lawyer from the Solicitor General's office.) 

Author: 
Sally Pokiton