The election petition filed by Father Benedict Tati against sitting Pomio MP, Elias Kapavore, following the 2022 National General Elections, was dismissed late Thursday afternoon at the Kokopo National Court.
Justice Panuel Mogish at 5.30pm on Thursday, July 6th, upheld an objection to competency on the election petition that was taken out by the lawyers for Kapavore and the PNG Electoral Commission (PNGEC), as the second respondent in the matter.
Kapavore’s legal counsel, Sally Tadabe from Mel and Henry Lawyers, said the petition by the plaintiff was based on several grounds, including bribery.
She said the application for incompetency was submitted four weeks ago and a decision was made on the objection on Thursday afternoon, which also saw the dismissal of the matter by the court.
Speaking for the first time to the media after the court decision, Kapavore said this election petition began 11 months ago and his matter was registered as the 6th election petition in the country.
“I would like to thank my lawyer, Sally, for her professionalism in handling this case very well, which was reflected by the court decision,” stated the MP.
“This is the first time for an election petition to be filed against me, as since the 2015 by-election until the 2017 NGE, there was no petition. But for some reason there was one in 2022. My win in the 2022 NGE was the first of the declarations in the NGI region and also a first for declaration on primary votes alone in East New Britain.”
Kapavore said even though the number of votes between him and the petitioner was not mentioned, the 6,000 plus difference in votes spoke of what the people of Pomio wanted, in terms of leadership.
Kapavore said he can now focus on his duties – both in the district and at various parliamentary committees – to progress programs and projects.
“Now that the court matter is over, I want to appeal to everyone to have peace and work together with government authorities, so we can continue to move Pomio district forward.”