Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court has again ruled that Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's rise to power was illegal and that veteran leader Sir Michael Somare should be reinstated, reports said yesterday.
The poverty-stricken but hugely resource-rich country has been stuck in a political impasse for months, with the two men both proclaiming themselves prime minister, O'Neill backed by the parliament and Somare by the judiciary.
The Supreme Court controversially decided in December that O'Neill's appointment as premier, while Somare was recuperating from serious illness, was invalid.
The five-judge panel was asked by the justice minister and parliament to rule on the question again in the light of events since then, and reiterated its stance in a split decision, the Post Courier newspaper reported.