Date for election petitions hearing to be known this week |12 January 2016

Yesterday, Monday January 11, was the last date to file any petition contesting the results of the recent presidential election and a date for the start of the hearing is expected to be known this week, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Mathilda Twomey has said.

“Once the deadline is over, a panel of Supreme Court judges will be chosen and a date will be set as from this week to start procedures,” Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey told members of the press after the reopening ceremony of the Supreme Court at Ile Du Port yesterday morning.

“We will wait until the end of today (Monday) to see how many requests we receive and then I will sit down to consolidate the files and then I will choose three judges of the Supreme Court to hear these cases,” Chief Justice Twomey said.

“This is a very serious matter and it concerns the whole country. I will not be doing a good job as Chief Justice if I am not on the panel of judges to hear the cases,” Chief Justice Twomey added.

She pointed out that the population needs to understand that such a case will take some time as already one petition is composed of 15 pages, 158 pages of affidavit and one pen-drive.

Chief Justice Twomey explained that once the panel of judges is finalised, a date will be set to start the procedures in court.

“We will have to give time for both parties to prepare themselves and this case is being given priority,” explained Chief Justice Twomey.

She did not want to pronounce herself on the amount of time the case will take, but with its description and high importance, she said it will take over three months.

CJ Twomey said justices will remain impartial in the case and that it's neither the media nor Facebook that will make the judgement, but the court.

"I, personally, have been the subject of political diatribe, violent threats and personal abuse. I also have been the subject of subtle hints – phone calls, text messages....Your comments are contemptible and my office is above your threats and insinuations," she said.

The Seychelles National Party (SNP) has filed two petitions so far this month to contest the results of the recent presidential election.

The first petition is asking the Constitutional Court to rule whether James Michel actually received 50% of the votes as required under schedule 3 of the Constitution while the second is asking the Constitutional Court to rule on the numerous allegations of irregularities both on the part of the Electoral Commission and the candidates which the party have compiled.