PNG NATIONAL GENERAL ELECTIONS - CONVICTS

 

The prized seats of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea. 

'JAIL BIRDS' MUST WITHDRAW BY FRIDAY, SAYS SINAI

Besides the many dilemmas facing Papua New Guinea's hard pressed Electoral Commissioner is the issue of 'jail birds'.

These are candidates whose nominations for the 2022 National General Elections have been outlawed by the recent ruling in the Supreme Court.

They are deemed ineligible by operation of a law that was passed in the last Parliament that says any citizen who has been convicted of a crime and served jail time after June 25, 2002, cannot run for Parliamentary office.
The Supreme Court affirmed this in a ruling two weeks ago.

Although, some convicts had paid their nomination, Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai now has the task of removing them from the candidate list.

In the history of elections in PNG, some candidates with criminal records have stood for public office and won convincingly.

The most infamous prisoner to retain his seat was Rai Coast MP James Yali, who famously won the ballot from his prison cell.

According to Sinai, those accused and are still facing court are still eligible to stand for the election.

“Once they have been charged in the court of law than they will be asked to withdraw their nomination,” he said.

However Sinai said that those who have been charged have until June 17 to withdraw their nominations.

“The candidates have from June 10 till June 17 to withdraw their nominations, EC is still trying to collate the list of candidates who have been charged and have paid their nomination fee," Sinai said.

Two convicts, who served jail time for their crimes, have been released on parole, and have nominated to contest in their districts.

However, their cases fall within the operation of the new law.

Another two who have been charged are on their campaign trail and have gone to court to fight their charges.

Sinai said last Friday that, “If you are a candidate, and you were convicted of an indictable offence after June 25, 2002 then you are ineligible to contest the elections and not qualified to hold membership in parliament.”

“Those candidates who fall within this category are requested to withdraw our nominations within the next seven days.

“If you (ex-convicts) insist on contesting despite my request, I will have no choice but to revoke your nomination in compliance with the Supreme Court orders, once your status is confirmed.”

According to the statement by EC, there was sufficient information put out for all those who were intending to contest the 2022 National General Election and that they should be mindful of the electoral laws that guide our elections.

The ruling of the Supreme Court in the reference entitled SCREF No. 06 of 2022 has not clarified the application of Section 103 (e) of the Constitution in respect of eligibility of persons wishing to contest elections.

The Supreme Court has clarified that Section 103 (e) of the Constitution operates to permanently disqualify membership of parliament of a person who has been convicted of an indictable offence after June 25, 2002 irrespective of the length of the sentence and whether they have completed the sentence.