Freedom muzzle broken

til M Cook

Islanders have been upheld, after the government failed in it’s bid to restrict the general election campaign period to just five weeks.

This follows a judgement by Chief Justice Sir Peter Quilliam who struck out a controversial Electoral Amendment intro duced into Parliament by the government shortly before the dissolution of Parliament.

Sir Peter declared it invalid, inconsistent and unenforceable. He said the Electoral Amendment was clearly unconstitutional and he was unable to accept government’s argument that the amendment was to the benefit of the public.

About 10,000 Cook Islanders go to the polls on the 16 of this month to vote in a government to run the country for the next five years.

Campaigning has been relatively quiet in comparison to other years, thanks that Electoral Amendment that saw election activity stopped for over a month.

Except for the brief five week period, any election activity including the forma tion of new political parties and the announcement of any prospective candi dates for election were outlawed.

A conviction for breaking the law car ried a maximum fine of up $lO,OOO or five

years imprisonment.

Democratic-Alliance and New Alliance opposition parties were outraged by the Electoral Amendment saying it contradict ed fundamental human rights and freedoms of Cook Islanders.

Lawyers acting for the Democratic- Alliance filed an application with the High Court in April seeking a declaratory judge ment on the five week campaign period.

Democratic- Alliance leader Dr Terepai Maoate says “the Act was brought into force without any consultation.”

The Chief Justice’s judgement was a victory for the Democratic Alliance Party and embarrassing for the ruling Cook Islands Party government.

The Cook Islands Party government did a similar thing just before the 1993 general elections when it introduced an Electoral Amendment requiring public servants to resign if they became candidates for the general election.

That was also struck down by the Court of Appeal after it was challenged by a Democratic candidate and the Public

Service Association.

“This is a victory this is what we’ve been anticipating,”

says DAP leader Dr Terepai Maoate. He says the Electoral Amendment was a clear ly a move by the government “to gag the Opposition.”

“It was designed to give us too little time to tell people about their mismanagement, now that it is thrown out, we can go ahead and launch our campaign.”

Dr Maoate says the Chief Justice’s judgement reaffirms their belief that the government’s Electoral Act violated the rights and freedoms of Cook Islands peo ple.

Of note was filing of an affidavit by Political Review Commission chair laveta Short in the Court saying that what the gov ernment had done in the Electoral Amendment was not what the Commission had recommended.

The Electoral Amendment was passed in Parliament about a month ago after one of the fieriest debates in the House. At the time, New Alliance Party leader Norman George expressed outrage that under the Electoral Amendment, politicians could be sent to prison for five years for doing what they had done as a matter of course for the past 30 years. ■