John Tipa

Tipa was arrested on 20 December last year and charged for election-related fraud.

He was in court over allegations of forgery on Form 66 (b).

Forms 66 (a) and 66 (b) are Electoral documents that must be signed off by an election manager or returning officer, the assistant returning officer and the scrutineers of the winner and the runner-up in the election, after elimination and before a declaration is made.  

It was alleged that Form 66(b) was not signed off by a scrutineer of Francis Potape as it should be by law.

In a media conference today, Potape said Undialu’s election victory is fake because it did not follow proper legal process.

“I am the duly elected Governor by the people of Hela as their Regional Member but have been denied declaration by the Provincial Returning officer,” says Potape.

After the final elimination of the last candidate in the race, Dr Hewali Hamiya, Potape collected 14,642 bringing his total score to 67,435 while Undialu collected 6,741 which brings his score to 65,836.