Guinea-Bissau's defeated presidential candidate Malam Bacai Sanha has made a second appeal before the Supreme Court to seek a reversal of its decision validating the victory of Nino Vieira at the polls last month, according to reports reaching here from Bissau on Thursday.

Sanha's lawyers filed the appeal on Wednesday and said in a communique that they wanted to exhaust all legal mechanisms at their disposal to "deepen and enrich" the country's jurisprudence.

If the Supreme Court "continues to violate the law" by refusing to hear Sanha's second challenge to the results of the July 24 runoff, it would take the case to the parliament's standing commission, Sanha's legal team said.

The parliamentary body has the power to resolve ambiguous situations arising from the country's electoral law.

The six-justice High Court threw out Sanha's bid for a ballot recount in three key electoral districts last week, saying his case had no legal basis and had been presented after the legal deadline.

Vieira, a former head of state who ran as an independent, won the runoff vote by 52 percent to 48 percent for the government- backed candidate, who has been joined by Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior in charging the election was stolen through "massive fraud".

Gomes called on the Supreme Court to resign last week after its ruling validating Vieira's victory, charging the justices had not served "the true interests" of the country.

Five of the six justices retorted in a communique Tuesday, accusing the prime minister of "grotesque and illegitimate" attempts to intervene in the judicial process.

International organizations, including the United Nations and the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, have urged the defeated candidate and his government backers to accept the election results.

Guinea-Bissau's National Elections Commission announced on August 10 that former military ruler Nino Vieira had won a presidential poll held last month.

Guinea-Bissau lies on the west coast of northern Africa, bordered by Senegal to the north, Guinea to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It includes the island of Bolama and the Bijagos Archipelago.

Source: Xinhua