The Supreme Court in Waigani on Monday refused two leave applications by Madang Governor Ramsey Pariwa.
The leave applications were to review an earlier national court decision that dismissed Pariwa’s application for objection of competency against petitioners Peter Yama and Jerry Singirok.
The outcome now stands that a full trial into the election petition case between Jerry Singirok and Ramsey Pariwa will commence on a date yet to be set by the court.
Trial into the election petition case between Peter Yama and Ramsey Pariwa was completed last month following an interlocutory decision by the National Court. This case is now awaiting a decision which is expected to be delivered on October 23.
The court found that the presiding judge in Madang then upheld parts of Pariwa’s objections to Yama’s petition and struck out three grounds leaving one to go on trial which proceeded and is now completed while the eight grounds of Singirok were sustained by the court.
Justice Hartshorn said the sought leave to review does not prevent Governor Pariwa from defending the case further in trial.
Pariwa filed for a review of the National Court’s decisions, saying that the court had erred in law by not upholding his objection to competency and for not dismissing the two petitions against him.
“It is not in the interest of justice to grant leave as according to justice, leave to review should not be granted in a case where the decision sought to review does not affect the substantive rights of the applicant,” Hartshorn Said.
Speaking outside the courthouse, the retired Major General Jerry Singirok said the application dismissed by the court is an indication that there is still a trial to be conducted.
“Because the trial is still pending I will not discuss the content of the trial to the public but it is important to say that this is an important process that we have to go through,” he said.