The Waigani National Court has ruled for Henry Amuli to remain as the Member for Sohe District in Northern Province.
The decision was officially made by Justice Iova Geita today.
Justice Iova Geita announced the decision following a recount of all ballot papers, which was ordered by the Court on the 21st of February 2017 as per section 212 (1) (d) of the Organic Law on National and Local Level Government Elections.
The recount commenced on May 21st in Popondetta as the electoral documents were kept there.
These orders were complied with and results were presented to the Court on the 8th of June 2018.
The final elimination at 40 saw the distribution of 6,614 votes for Paulinias Uhena to petitioner Delilah Gore, who previously had a total of 7,244 votes and the first respondent Henry Amuli, who had 7,105 votes.
From that distribution, Gore got 234 votes while Amuli gathered 559 votes.
The absolute majority was 7,572.
Their final figures after the distribution saw Gore at 7,478 and Amuli on 7,664; a difference of 186 votes.
Having satisfied that the judicial ordered recounts were conducted with due diligence and properly authenticated by all officers concerned tasked to carry out the Court order, Justice Geita accepted into court the results of the judicial recount.
He then ordered that Amuli shall retain his seat as the Member for Sohe Open electorate, pursuant to the judicial recount.
“Mi ron lo Sohe seat consistently for four years na mi bildim up profile na beiswok blo mi since 2002, and I was the only candidate that contested throughout Sohe Electorate, fopla LLGs blo Sohe,” Amuli stated.
“Mi kolektim most votes because I visited the people.”
The MP thanked his supporters and reaffirmed that he is committed to delivering much needed services to the people of Sohe.