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In an attempt to stop the alleged re-declaration of the parliamentary election results in Tesano in the Greater Accra region, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for the Eastern region’s Fanteakwa North constituency has filed a lawsuit in a Koforidua High Court.
Isaac Mintah Larbi, the principal attorney for Okore Chambers, filed the lawsuit, which requests a court review order that includes prohibition and certiorari.
Additionally, the candidate, Haruna Apaw Wiredu, requests that the court prevent the EC from publishing any documents, gazettes, or publications under the name of Kwame Appiah Kodua, the NPP parliamentary candidate.
After the EC recollected the results on December 12, Kodua was proclaimed the constituency’s parliamentary candidate-elect.
The earlier announcement of Haruna Apaw Wiredu as the winner at the constituency capital, Begoro, was revoked by the EC, the case’s respondent, on the grounds that it went against accepted election procedures.
Zacharia Adams, the Returning Officer, stated that the preliminary results indicated Kwame Kodua received 10,847 votes, while the NDC candidate received 11,138.
The NDC’s Director of Legal Affairs for the Eastern Region, Isaac Mintah Larbi, clarified that the EC’s actions were against constitutional instruments (CIs), which forbid re-collating, recounting, or re-declaring results that have already been proclaimed. Anyone who is dissatisfied with the outcome has no choice but to file a lawsuit,” he said.
“What we are asking the court to do is that the so-called re-declaration that the EC has done at Tesano is illegal. It is a nullity in law. They have no legal basis to do that, and the electoral laws of this country do not permit what they have done,” Mr Larbi said.
“We’ve moved to the High Court to ask it to quash the re-declaration at Tesano. This occurred two days after the Returning Officer in charge of the Fanteakwa North constituency had already declared the results in favour of Hon. Haruna Apaw Wiredu. For that reason alone, everything the EC did at Tesano is a complete nullity. It cannot be acceptable, it’s illegal.”
Mr. Larbi further underlined that the post of “deputy returning officer,” which was mentioned in the EC’s re-collation process at Tesano, is not specifically covered by Ghana’s electoral legislation.
“The title of deputy returning officer is not recognized by any position under this nation’s laws. That in and of itself proves that all they accomplished in Tesano was a total failure. It’s unacceptable. It’s against the law,” he said.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
