The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) says it has detected 33 new errors on the nomination forms of the National Democratic Party (NDP) presidential nominee, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.

This follows a Supreme Court judgement on Monday (November 7) that ordered the EC to extend the period of filing of nomination forms to close of day Tuesday, November 8, 2016 and also allow aspirants who were disqualified from the presidential race the opportunity to correct anomalies on their forms that formed the basis for their disqualification.

The Electoral Commission in a letter to the NDP said the errors must be corrected by 5pm yesterday (November 8) to enable the party’s nominee contest in the upcoming presidential elections.

But according to a statement signed by the General Secretary of the NDP, Mohammed Frimpong, the EC’s announcement of discovery of new errors is ‘unfair’ and ‘absurd’.

The party said it was sickened by the turn of events as the EC had only informed them of only one anomaly that formed the basis for the disqualification of its presidential nominee.

‘Why Konadu was disqualified’

On October 10, 2016 the Electoral Commission said it could not accept the nomination forms of the party’s candidate because the number of subscribers on her forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation (2) (b) of CI 94.

It said on page 89 of the forms, one of the subscribers was not validly registered as a voter and illegally registered twice and was therefore on the Commission’s Exclusion list of multiple voters.

‘NDP to go to court’

The National Democratic Party (NDP) has threatened to go to court over the matter, describing it as an “oppressive tactic” by the EC to ensure its presidential nominee does not contest in this year’s presidential elections.

The NDP in their statement said the discovery of new errors “is not right. This cannot be legal. This is a clear violation of our human rights.. We reject this trick of the EC. We reject this clear attempt at victimisation by the EC,” it said.

“We are calling on the Electoral Commission to immediately desist its oppressive tactics and with immediate effect reverse this illegal demand of us; else we would have no option but to return to court,” it added.

‘Supreme Court orders EC to extend nomination forms’

The Supreme Court on Monday (November 7) ordered the Electoral Commission to extend the nomination period to the close of Tuesday, November 8, 2016 for all disqualified presidential aspirants.

The judges also ordered a suspension of all lawsuits challenging the EC’s disqualifications of Flagbearers, for all those affected to amend the errors on their forms.

The Supreme Court’s made the judgement on a case brought before it by the Commission challenging an earlier judgement by a High court that ordered the Commission to allow the PPP’s Papa Kwesi Nduom correct errors on his nomination forms

 

Exclusively Newslinegh