18 Jun 2004

PNG Supreme Court to rule on Governor-General nomination

3:50 pm on 18 June 2004

The Supreme Court in Papua New Guinea will today rule on an application by defeated governor-general candidate, Sir Pato Kakaraya, that it should declare his December nomination proper.

Lawyers representing Sir Pato, who was nominated by parliament as the next governor-general last year, have submitted that the Supreme Court misapprehended the facts and law when it nullified the nomination in a March judgement.

This was after another failed vice-regal candidate, Sir Albert Kipalan, successfully challenged parliament's December 4 decision to nominate Sir Pato as vice-regal.

Sir Pato's lawyers submitted last week that the court should vacate its March 31 decision and declare that their client's nomination by parliament was proper.

However, opposing lawyers said the application should be dismissed as the applicant failed to meet the basic principles of a slip rule application.