Lawyer for an aspiring Assemblyman in the Effutu District in the Central Region, Alex Afenyo-Markin, has threatened to drag the Electoral Commission (EC) to court if it fails to include his client in the upcoming District Assembly Elections.
[contextly_sidebar id=”R52cxWgLqZZGN50mpi84L0IU8hPFGC5X”]Afenyo-Markin’s client, Benjamin Eyi Mensah, was disqualified from contesting the elections on grounds of late submission of nomination forms.
Mensah, who picked his forms and duly completed them for submission on Monday, December 22, 2014 was informed by both the District Electoral Officer and her Returning Officer that the filing of nominations closed on Sunday, December 21, 2014 at 5pm.
Nominations for the District Assembly Elections were held on Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21 from 8:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00pm to 5:00pm each day, in 2014, while nominations for the Unit Committee Elections took place on Monday, December 22, 2014 and Tuesday, December 23, 2014.
However, in a letter written to the EC, Afenyo-Markin argued that the EC’s decision to open and close nominations at the said date was inconsistent and in contravention of Article 45(b) and 51 of the 1992 Constitution.
Afenyo-Markin further stated that the EC’s decision was “not fortified by the law”.
“ The exercise so conducted in receiving forms and closing nominations does not have any legal basis and same can be said to be unconstitutional,”he maintained.
Markin has therefore asked the EC to take “immediate steps to re-open nominations for the district assembly and unit committee elections across the country .”
In a related development, the EC is expected to hold its District Assembly and Unit Committee elections on Tuesday, March 3, 2015.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana