Court Moves Ahead with Falealili 1 Election Petition Despite Missing Witnesses

2026-02-20 - 14:36

The Falealili No.1 election petition took an important step forward in Court this week, even though two key witnesses could not be found. After hearing arguments from both sides, the Electoral Court decided it would allow the written statements or affoc5rom two missing witnesses to be used as evidence. Lawyers told the court that police had tried for weeks to locate the two witnesses. The Court heard that warrants were issued, searches were carried out, and help was requested from different authorities, but the witnesses never appeared. Because of this, the court had to decide whether the witnesses’ written statements could still be accepted. Lawyer for the respondent, Muriel Lui, told the Court that while the law allows such statements to be admitted, the judges should also think about why the witnesses stayed away. Lui suggested it was possible the witnesses simply chose not to come to court, and this should affect how much trust the court places in their evidence. Satiu Simativa Perese, explained that the law looks mainly at one thing whether reasonable efforts were made to find the witnesses. Since police had tried hard but failed to locate them, the court ruled the witnesses are legally considered “unavailable,” and so their statements or written affidavits, could be used The judges also said the personal reasons why the witnesses did not come are not part of the legal test. The court has now given the respondent time to decide whether to bring more evidence to respond to the admitted statements. The hearing will continue next week, when the court will look closely at how much weight should be given to the written evidence before making any final decisions.