The Solomon Islands' Governor-General has refused to recall parliament in the latest political impasse involving the country's Prime Minister over losing power to rule a new minority government.
An appeal made by the Ownership, Unity and Responsibility (OUR) Party has delayed efforts to officially remove Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele from office.
The government officially lodged an appeal following the Solomon Islands High Court decision from its Chief Justice on Tuesday, who ordered Mr Manele to convene parliament within three business days to face an inevitable motion of no confidence.
Chief Sir Albert Palmer's ruling supported a judicial review claim by the majority coalition of 28 MPs, including 12 former government ministers, who recently defected to the crossbenches of the 50-seat house in Honiara.
Chief Palmer denied an attempt from Solomon Islands Attorney-General John Muria to have the judicial review struck out.
Mr Muria told a press conference a week earlier an attempt from opposition MPs to unseat the government through the courts was "basically a futile exercise".
Before Wednesday's hearing, the first Indigenous Solomon Islander to be Chief justice of the nation from 1992 until 2003 had incorrectly claimed the opposition's case had followed neither due process nor the law.
"This case has no reasonable cause of action," Mr Muria told reporters last Thursday outside of court.
The Registrar of the High Court confirmed the Attorney-General had officially filed a notice of appeal, which was granted by the court a week later on Thursday.
Mr Manele, however, has been absent from the Solomon Islands for most of the past week due to his position as the Pacific Islands Forum chairman for its Troika meeting held in Fiji.
The stay of execution suspended the enforcement of the judgement, whose three-day deadline expires on Friday.
Governor-General Sir David Tiva Kapu had firmly rejected calls from the opposition group of MPs to use his residual constitutional powers to summon parliament on Wednesday to notify the Speaker it would sit on Friday.
"I will exercise my powers to convene parliament at the appropriate date and time," he wrote in a letter to the opposition parties and their MPs.
The development is the latest in a political saga which began last month following the mass defection of government ministers into opposition.
The opposition group has called out Mr Manele's decision to leave the Solomon Islands during the ongoing impasse.
"Prime Minister (Manele) has departed the country in clear defiance of a court order requiring parliament to be convened within three days," the coalition of MPs said in a statement.
"This raises profound constitutional questions regarding compliance with binding judicial directions and the obligations of the executive under our democratic system.
"Such actions reflect a serious erosion of leadership responsibility and are incompatible with the standards expected of lawful constitutional governance.
"The constitution must be obeyed; the court must be respected; parliament must sit."
Despite holding the majority of seats in parliament opposition MPs have previously been locked out of the house, with Mr Manele refusing to call a sitting to face the leadership challenge.
As the numbers stand, the Ownership, Unity and Responsibility (OUR) Party, led by Mr Manele, holds just 19 seats, seven short of a majority, after a loose alliance broke down after four entities of its coalition partnership walked away.
In opposition are the Solomon Islands Democratic Party, which holds 11 seats, while the Solomon Islands United Party carry a further six.
