Papua New Guinea court order bans 'tomato' insult

Image source, Alamy

Image caption, Mr Gamato claimed the insults defamed his reputation
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Papua New Guinea's electoral commissioner has gone to court to stop a critical blogger from mocking his name as the country goes to the polls.

Patilias Gamato won the order against blogger Martyn Namarong, who referred to him as "Tomato", and was accused of posting an image of the election chief with a tomato for a head, reports. Mr Namarong denies ever posting the doctored image.

According to , Mr Gamato said he resorted to court action when Mr Namorong began using the fruit-based insult, although he was not the first person to do so. "He made some defamatory statements and also called my surname 'tomato'," he told ABC.

"I don't look like a tomato, I'm a human being."

In response to the court case, Mr Namarong tweeted a picture of himself .

With counting in the Papua New Guinea election still ongoing, that the Commonwealth Observer Group has expressed its concerns over reports of election-related violence and vote buying, "in some cases through the use of state resources and development funds".

Early results show the ruling People's National Congress , with incumbent Prime Minister Peter O'Neill winning his seat.

Reporting by Alistair Coleman

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