PROVIDENCE — The Supreme Court will not intervene in the dispute over the validity of five Republican General Assembly candidates, appointed by state GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione, until after the state Board of Elections rules in the matter.

That decision by Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams was conveyed to Cicione verbally yesterday by Ronald Tutalo, administrative assistant to the chief justice, in a telephone call.

The Board of Elections is scheduled to consider the arguments today.

State law allows party chairmen to appoint candidates to fill out holes in their election slate within 24 hours of the filing deadline. In this case, Cicione submitted the names of five candidates for House and Senate to the secretary of state’s office. The names were rejected by elections officials in Providence and Pawtucket on grounds they should have been submitted to their boards of canvassers instead. A third community, West Warwick, was poised to do the same.

Cicione said the GOP was following the advice it was given by a staffer in the office of Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, a Democrat. A spokesman for Mollis has denied that anyone in the office provided any advice on where to file the names of the appointed candidates.

The Supreme Court was responding to a petition for emergency relief the GOP filed late Tuesday. With a 10-day signature gathering period already under way, the party asked the court to order the secretary of state to issue nominating papers to the five disputed candidates so they can do what they need to do to qualify as candidates while the legal issues play out at the state and local level.

The candidates include the state GOP’s director of operations and community outreach, Lammis Vargas, and two of Governor Carcieri’s stalled nominees to the state Board of Elections: John J. Clarke Jr. and Elaina Goldstein.

Vargas is seeking a Senate seat held for more than three decades by Pawtucket Democrat John McBurney. Clarke is trying again to unseat Senate Finance Chairman Stephen Alves, D-West Warwick, and Goldstein to unseat Rhoda Perry of Providence, the East Side Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services. In addition: Kofua Kulah was appointed by Cicione to challenge Democratic Sen. Paul V. Jabour for his 5th District seat, representing Federal Hill; and Damien Baldino to run against the winner of the Democratic primary between Rep. Steven Smith and challenger John Carnevale.

Cicione said the party will return to the Supreme Court petition if the state Board of Elections rules against his argument that filing the candidates’ names with the secretary of state was sufficient, or the party wins at the board level, but the candidates are not left with enough time to gather the required number of signatures on their nominating papers: 50 for a House seat, 100 for a Senate seat.

kgregg@projo.com