Justice Jeffrey Shephard dismissed the petition at the competency stage yesterday, preventing it from going to trial.
Second runner-up in the Tari-Pori seat, Justin Haiara, filed the petition on 18 August 2017, disputing James Marape’s declaration of 9 July 2017.
Marape and the Electoral Commission in response filed two motions, on 6 September and 6 November 2017 respectively, challenging the validity of Haiara’s petition.
Yesterday (Aug 23) the National Court handed its decision of the two objection to competency motions.
