Ghana might be forced to postponed the December 7 general election due to the mass court actions brought against the Electoral Commission (EC) by some disqualified political parties.
The National Democratic Party (NDP) is the latest party to throw its hat into the ring of lawsuits as it has sued the Commission two days after the Commission rejected plea to reinstate the party’s flagbearer, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.
The legal suit is the second of it kind brought against the Commission by two out of the 12 disqualified political parties.
NDP is seeking two reliefs namely;
(a) To get their candidate Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings reinstated and
(b) An injunction on the EC’s programme towards the elections until the final determination of the case.
The EC has been embroiled in a legal battle after it disqualified 12 political parties last Monday for failing to abide by directives stated in the Constitutional Instrument (C. I. 94).
The Commission explained it was unable to accept the nomination of the NDP flagbearer because the number of subscribers she raised fell short of the required 432 valid voters captured in the C.I.94.
EC boss, Charlotte Osei said, “One subscriber on page 89 of her nomination forms is not a validly registered voter and illegally registered twice and so is on the exclusion list of multiple voters.”
The Commission’s action has been described by many political commentators as a disastrous act that could trigger needless legal battles.
Majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu had told Joy News last week that the action by the EC could plunge Ghana into the Nigeria situation in which the 2015 election was postponed for six weeks.
Barely two days after the legislator’s forecast, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) went for an injunction on the Commission’s activities over what it described as the “unfair’ manner the party’s flagbearer, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom was disqualified.
The Great Consolidated People’s Party (GCPP) has also threatened to visit a court action on the commission for rejecting the nomination of the party’s flagbearer, Dr Henry Lartey.
Speaking to Evans Mensah, host of Joy FM’s Top Story programme Monday, NDP General Secretary, Mohammed Frimpong maintained the NDP did not err in the filing of the nomination form, adding the Commission’s action is “untenable” and amounts to a threat to Ghana’s democracy.
Contributing to programme, Maurice Ampaw, the lawyer for disqualified GCPP flagbearer said he has duly written to the Commission to rescind its decision, expressing confidence that his client would be reinstated.
“We have found a nice way of going about it because the EC will do it. I am confident my friends will come on board,” he said.
He, however, said they would head to court if the Commission’s response does not favour the GCPP flagbearer.
The People’s National Convention (PNC) has also hinted it would be seeking legal redress to bring the party’s flagbearer, Dr Edward Mahama back onto the presidential race.
PNC General Secretary, Atik Mohammed also on the programme said, “all the processes are complete to end the matter in court.”
He was emphatic that “we want to get our candidate back on the ballot paper before the close of this week the PNC certainly.”
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