Voting in the PNG election Photo: Raguel Kepas
In Papua New Guinea, the National Court and Supreme Court registrar, Ivan Augerea, says the courts have 84 election petitions to deal with, as of Tuesday.
He said 22 of the petitions sought the court's direction, and 15 had been allocated dates.
The National newspaper said Augerea expected more petitions to be filed this week and next week.
Every petition must be filed within 40 days after the declaration of the MP.
Augerea said the 80 election petitions filed in 2017 had all been dealt with.
Meanwhile, Justice Joseph Yagi said if the petitioner, the MP or the Electoral Commissioner are busy, they must send a representative to the court when their case was called.
"Unless there is a good reason, parties are required to be present," Yagi said.
He made the remarks in the National Court in the petition filed by a Moresby-South candidate Michelle Hau'ofa against MP Justin Tkatchenko.
Justice Yagi was informed by a defence lawyer that Tkatchenko was unable to make it to court as he was busy.
He warned that if the non-appearance of any party delayed a case, he would order costs against them for not complying with the rules.
Justice Yagi also said that when a Member of Parliament dies, the seat becomes vacant.
He made the remark during the election petition filed by Wewak Open candidate Jim Simatab against the winner, Kevin Isifu, who passed away last week.