Justice Martin Ipang has dismissed an election petition by former Member for Menyamya, Benjamin Philip against sitting Member, Thomas Pelika as first respondent and the Electoral Commission as second respondent.
The Judge struck out 7 grounds because the facts of allegations were insufficient and incompetent.
Pelika’s Lawyer, Brendan Lai, said the petitioner failed to plead the identity of the people alleged to be influenced by the allegations. He said facts provided by the petitioner were insufficient.
The National Court in Lae today ruled in favour of Member for Menyamya, Thomas Pelika as the first respondent and the Electoral Commission of PNG as second respondent.
Election Petitions are cases that an aggrieved candidate, who is unsuccessful in an election has the right to file.
The Petitioner should file a court preceding that is competent and meets the requirement of the law.
The Election Petition by Benjamin Philip was filed on the 25th of August, 2017.
Now that the case is dismissed, Pelika says he will be concentrating on delivering services in his electorate.
