Addison, Tawiah file suit demanding fresh election in Klottey Korle

Two defeated New Patriotic Party Parliamentary aspirants in the Klottey Korle constituency of the Greater Accra Region, have filed a fresh suit at the High Court praying it to order a rerun of election in the constituency.

[contextly_sidebar id=”DJyxLZJtBH7pvvOc4ycUSLoGCEqAf6et”]The two, Philip Addison and Nii Adjei Tawiah, say the process which elected Niii Noi Nortey was illegal and unconstitutional.

Their suit comes months after they gave the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) a seven day ultimatum to address their concerns.

In their suit, the two argue that:

• There was no accreditation for the purported election on August, 2, 2015.
• The voters register used for the conduct of the purported elections on August, 2, 2015, was not the one certified by the Korle Klottey Parliamentary Elections Committee for the conduct of the elections
• The rules and regulations required the Parliamentary Elections Committee to receive and keep the constituency register until same is submitted to the Electoral Commission. The duly certified register was inspectd by all the aspirants and same was kept by the Parliamentary Elections Committee Secretary.
• This was never made available to the Electoral Commission because the 2nd day of August , 2015, was not the agreed date for the conduct of the polls.
• The persons who organised the elections on 2^nd August, 2015, procured a totally different voters register for use on that day. This infraction gave opportunity for persons whose names were not on the duly certified voters register, to cast their ballots on 2^nd August, 2015.
• The constituency parliamentary Elections Committee before the holding of Parliamentary primaries, had the duty of displaying the register to aspirants as a fee, in order to ensure a level playing field to aspirants in the parliamentary contest and announcing the dates for elections. This was not done.
• The date of 8^th August, 2015 was not fixed for the Klottey Korle primaries was agreed upon by the PEC together with the Regional Executive Committee, the constituency chairperson and all the aspirants. Nowhere in the rules and regulations governing the conduct of the parliamentary primaries is the General Secretary of 1^st defendant empowered to, suo motu. Fix dates for the election of a parliamentary candidate

Background 

Philip Addison earlier boycotted the primaries, describing it as a sham.

The elections took place despite his decision, with his main opponent, Nii Noi Nortey, beating him with 393 votes whiles he managed 22 votes, with the other contender, Nii Adjei Tawiah, polling 19 votes.

Lawyer Addison and Nii Tawiah petitioned the National Executive Committee matter demanding a rerun of the polls.

They earlier gave the NEC  a seven day ultimatum to review their joint petition.

Lawyer Addison, who led the NPP’s legal team during the 2012 election petition, has been accused by his opponents of seeking to use foul means to bulldoze his way through following his relationship with the flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo.

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana