EC admits court cases hindering electoral processes
The Electoral Commission (EC) has admitted that the numerous court cases hanging around its neck are affecting the calendar of activities planned for the December 7 elections.
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Currently, the EC does not know when to print and post the statement of polls and when to run the balloting for the positions of presidential candidates on the ballot paper due to the cases pending in court.
According to the Deputy Chairperson in charge of Corporate Service of the EC, Ms Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, the most crucial of the challenges was the EC’s inability to tell when to start the printing of the presidential ballot papers for the elections which normally would require some weeks to do.
Dialogue with the EC
Speaking during on engagement with the media in Kumasi, Ms Amankwa said the EC was, however, hopeful that the court would deal with the cases expeditiously to pave the way for the electoral processes to be completed.
The media engagement was organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MfWA) to create a platform for the commissioners of the EC to interact with the media.
Ms Amankwaa said even some of the training programmes which were being organised by the commission for its temporary staff had to be put on hold pending the outcome of the cases in court.
But that notwithstanding, she said there was no cause for alarm and trusted the promise made by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood that the court would not entertain any delays in the adjudication of the cases.
She, however, warned that “if the cases delay unnecessarily, it might affect the election calendar.”
Balloting
Ms Amankwaa explained that the commission had to go ahead with the balloting for the positions on the ballot sheets for the parliamentary candidates because there was no issue with them.
Besides, she said for the parliamentary election, the candidates were more than the presidential election and the ballot paper would have to be printed for each of the 275 constituencies taking into consideration the number for each constituency.
Media accreditation
On accreditation for the media for the coverage of the election, the EC said it had no funding to print free accreditation for the media and urged media outlets to prepare to pay for it.
Other commissioners who took part in the engagement included Hajia Maida Sa-Adatu, Mrs Paulina Adobea Dadzawa and Alhaji Sulley Amadu.
Court cases
Currently, three parties have dragged the EC to court over the disqualification of their presidential aspirants. They are the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), the National Democratic Party (NDC) and the All People’s Congress (APC).
They are all asking the court to overturn the decision of the EC to disqualify them from contesting the election.
But yesterday, the Accra High Court struck out the case on procedural grounds.