By election for Pukapuka-Nassau after election result declared void

The Justice Ministry is about to incur further costs to an already exhausted election budget thanks to a by election.
There is to be a by-election in the Pukapuka-Nassau electorate after Justice Nicholson declared the election result for Pukapuka-Nassau void following a marathon hearing of the High Court which lasted four days and ended in Rarotonga at 1.30am Thursday morning. Justice Nicholson handed down his decision at about 3pm on Thursday however he said his reasons would be presented at a later date.
Following the election on 26 November last year, the CIP candidate Lazaro polled 88 votes, the Independent Vai Peua polled 84 and the Demo candidate Ravarua polled 77.
On 3 December, Peua challenged the outcome and the process began. Peua’s petition alleged the votes of seven voters should have been disqualified, the electoral office struck off eight voters from the roll without proper notification and that Lazaro committed bribery.
After considering the evidence of witnesses and information from affidavits and various documents, Justice Nicholson found that Lazaro committed a corrupt practice namely bribery therefore his election was void. He also found that the action of the electoral office in striking off 86 voters from the roll was invalid as the voters had not been informed their names had been removed as required under the Act.
This being the last remaining petition to be heard, the way is cleared for parliament to sit.

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