A Parliamentary Committee is seeking to make it illegal for an election-winning candidate to resign after an opponent filed a court petition questioning his or her victory.

The Standing Orders, Electoral, Petitions and Constitutional Offices Committee made the recommendation in its report after it reviewed the findings of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into electoral matters arising from the 2021 General Election. 

The Committee's recommendation was amongst several key matters that it raised in its report that was approved by the Legislative Assembly last Friday.

The Committee noted that based on the results of the 2021 General Election, several candidates won the election but immediately resigned from office after a petition questioning their victory was filed in the Supreme Court. 

Due to this practice, the Committee has recommended amending the Electoral Act 2019, which would nullify any attempts by a winning candidate to abruptly resign from office.

The Committee has also recommended the imposing of the same 5-year penalty outlined in section 139 of the Electoral Act 2019 – which relates to a candidate who has been legally convicted of corruption charges – against a candidate who won an election and soon after resigned from office.

There were a few Members of Parliament who expressed concerns about the proposed amendments, on the grounds that there are serious implications for those in the legal profession if the proposed changes went ahead. 

Following the 2021 General Election, there were three by-elections that were triggered by “settlement in principle”, where the Members of Parliament-elect and their opponents agreed to return to by-elections as part of an agreement leading to the petitioners dropping their cases. At that time the affected territorial constituencies included Sagaga No. 4, Safata No. 2 and Falealupo. 

A record 28 petitions were filed with the Supreme Court by unsuccessful candidates following the April 2021 General Election, confirming a close race between the country’s two dominant political parties. A panel of six Supreme Court Justices sat simultaneously for three months to hear the cases as well as deal with matters connected to the constitutional crisis at the time.