Supreme Court declares emergency powers valid

News item – 28 October 2010

The President declared a state of emergency on 11 June 2010, and has since renewed the state of emergency on numerous occasions. The reason for the state of emergency is the inability of the deadlocked Parliament to consider or pass supply. The declarations of emergency and the emergency orders are available on PacLII: www.paclii.org

The opposition filed a challenge in the Supreme Court, seeking declarations that the President
had acted unconstitutionally. The Supreme Court delivered its decision on 20 October 2010, finding that the President has acted lawfully. The decision is available here in PDF format.