Attorney General, Dr Eric Kwa, together with Prime Minister James Marape urge those who are dissatisfied with election results or processes to utilize their rights to file petitions to the Court of Disputed Returns.
In a press conference on Monday 25 July, Dr Kwa said, “Those who are not happy with the results please the law is there for you. Nogat man i passim law lo you. You can still take your disputes to the court of disputed returns.”
Dr Kwa acknowledged that there will be a lot of frustrations expressed by those running in the elections, however, there can only be one winner.
The Attorney General also encouraged citizens who are supporters of candidates to not take the law into their own hands.
“I encourage the people out there, those who are candidates, those who are supporters of losing candidates, please use the law.
“We all belong to this country. We are not going to go anywhere so why try to disrupt the elections. Why try to destroy communities, why try to destroy neighbourhoods. Because we’ll still be here.”
“Let’s complete the elections and let’s bring our 118 MPs to parliament as soon as we can,” Dr Kwa added.
Prime Minister Marape says, “Half the delay has been caused by losing candidates who are seeing that they don’t have the votes to sustain their appetite for political office.”
He went on to say, “If you have a right that has been breached, you have an avenue to contest what you felt has been your right that is being breached.
The Prime Minister encouraged all counting officials and scrutineers nationwide to take their issues to the court of disputed returns of they feel they have been overlooked.