Gamato: Writs, tally sheets will be made available

Electronic copies of return of writs, declarations and tally sheets from returning officers will be scanned and made available to the Courts.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato said this when granting a request made by the Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia during the two-day judges’ workshop on election petition.

Sir Salamo made a request to Commissioner Gamato to provide those documents to the Court registry from all the electorates for their records in preparation for the upcoming election petitions.

“We will make it available this election,” Gamato told the judges.

The request was made after lawyers gave a perspective of election petitions during the workshop.

Lawyers who were involved in election petition matters from 2012 told judges that access to the electoral roll and official tally sheets from the Electoral Commission, after the 2012 National Elections, was a challenge.

Christine Copland, who was involved in 18 election petition matters from 2012, said it was a challenge because electoral roll and official tally sheets were not made available to parties quickly by the Electoral Commission.

Copland said the requests for the tally and forms can only be made after the election petition is filed in court. They were made available either on the day of the trial or during the trial.

The workshop ended on Friday with recommendations made to the Judge Administrator and Chief Justice respectively from the other judges.

It was specifically to workshop the 2017 Election Petition Rules, which came into effect on July 3.

Author: 
Sally Pokiton