The Supreme Court has directed the Electoral Commission [EC] to call off the much publicized District Assembly elections which was scheduled for March 3, 2015.
[contextly_sidebar id=”DGzRUY1Axp6F9i2zQwACudEQI3q0mPL6″]The EC was dragged to court by an aspiring Assembly man, Benjamin Eyi Mensah, represented by lawyer Alex Afenyo Markin.
According to Eyi Mensah, a fisherman, he was denied an opportunity to file his nomination despite meeting all conditions to contest but the EC closed nominations before the maturation of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 85.
The Justice William Atuguba led panel of judges ruled in favour of the fisherman on Friday and declared the impending election as “unconstitutional.”
According to the Supreme Court, the law on which the EC wanted to hold the election, CI 85 is not in force as at the time nominations were closed.
“CI 85 cannot take retrospective effect,” Justice Atuguba told EC lawyer Quarshie Idan when he sort clarity on the ruling.
The court ordered that “the election process be conducted afresh.”
The EC’s lawyers, led by James Quarshie Idun argued that his client relied on the section 11 of the PNDC Law which deals with the organization of public elections in the country.
He further explained that section 11 of PNDC LAW 284, gave the EC the powers to organize and conduct elections in the country.
A Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Finance and Administration, Georgina Opoku Amankwah who represented the EC Chairman, Kwadwo Afari Gyan told Citi News after the ruling, the Commission will announce its next line of action after studying the ruling.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the EC to stop running adverts of the elections ahead of the ruling on Friday.
According to the court, it was not right for the Commission to continue advertising the election when there was a case challenging the legality of the processes.
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By: Umaru Sanda Amadu and Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana