The Opposition has filed a Section 18 Supreme Court Reference to review the process involved in disputing the recent unsuccessful vote of no confidence motion in Parliament.
The case was filed on Monday this week by Young and Williams Law firm representing the Opposition Leader.
They are seeking further orders to have, parliament recalled immediately to deal with the Vote of No Confidence Motion as they alleged the process was not followed.
A copy of the sealed application obtained indicated, the Opposition is seeking interpretations of Sections 11, 111, 135, 145 and 155 sub-section 4 of the Constitution and Section 22 of the Parliamentary Standing Orders.
It relates to the V-O-N-C process and the role and the conduct of the Private Business Committee, which is made up of mostly members of the ruling Pangu Pati.
The Opposition is also questioning the conduct of the Parliament Clerk, the Speaker and Parliament. They will argue among others, that the Notice of Motion of NO confidence in the Prime Minister is special and should not be treated as an ordinary notice of motion in the way it happened on Wednesday 5th of June.
They are also questioning the role of the PBC and what it should do in clearing the motion quickly to go before the Clerk for vetting.
The opposition also claimed that Parliament had breached its duties by not permitting or not facilitating the applicant (Opposition leader) to introduce the Motion of No Confidence in the Prime Minister into Parliament.
A date for hearing is yet to be set. The court as usual is expected to deal with the issue of standing of the Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa first before dealing with questions raised for its interpretation.
This could be the reason why they have opted to file a Section 18 Reference. If the Supreme Court finds the Opposition Leader does not have standing or there are irregularoties, they may come back to court and file under Section 19.
If they are successful they've asked the Supreme Court to order parliament to reconvene immediately to deal with the VONC motion.
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