Mele v Principal Electoral Officer

Supreme Court

Election Petition
910 of 2020
04 Jui 2020
12 Jui 2020

Justice Oliver Saksak
Livo Mele
Principal Electoral Officer - First Respondent; The Electoral Commission - Second Respondent; Lulu Sakaes - Third Respondent; Joshua Leonard Pikioune - Fourth Respondent; Samsen Samson - Fifth Respondent; Alfred Maoh; Sixth Respondent; Fabiano Stevens - Seventh Respondent; Gaetan Pikioune - Eighth Respondent; Rick Tchamacko Mahe - Ninth Respondent
Mr John Malcolm and Stephanie Mahuk for Petitioner; Mr Frederick Gilu, Solicitor General for First and Second Respondents; Mr Daniel Yawha for Third, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Respondents; Mr Nigel Morrison for Fifth Respondent; Mr James Tari for Sixth Respondent; Mr Justin Ngwele for Fourth Respondent

DECISION

1. The application to strike out the petitioner’s petition filed by the Third, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Respondents on 20th May 2020 and by the First and Second Respondents filed on 26th May 2020 are misconceived and premature, and are accordingly dismissed.

2. The reasons are simple. The First is that disclosure process is still ongoing and incomplete making the applications premature at this stage. The second is that the 704 proxy votes obtained by the petitioner from the Sanma Provincial Council were validly obtained. The petitioner sought permission from the President of the Sanma Provincial Council and it was granted. Section 59 (4) of the Act is irrelevant.

3. On the evidence thus far presented or made available by the petitioner, the Court is satisfied he has made out a prima facie case against the First and Second Respondents to warrant a full hearing of the petition.

4. Whether his evidence is enough to show the First and Second Respondents are guilty of such non-compliance with the provisions of the Act that their conduct of polling affected the result of the election, is a substantive issue that can only be determined after all the evidence have been filed and a full hearing conducted.

5. The applications are therefore premature and misconceived. They are dismissed for those reasons.

DATED at Port Vila this 12th day of June 2020
BY THE COURT

OLIVER.A.SAKSAK
Judge