NDP loses bid to get flagbearer's name on ballot paper
The National Democratic Party (NDP)has lost its bid to seek a court order to compel the Electoral Commission (EC) to include the name of its flag bearer, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, on the ballot paper of presidential candidates for next Friday’s polls.
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That followed the dismissal of the party’s case against the EC by the Human Rights Division of the Fast Track High Court at its sitting in Accra Friday.
No costs were awarded.
According to the court, the applicants failed to put up a favourable case to warrant the granting of the order.
It held that the EC acted within its mandate in rejecting the NDP flag bearer’s nomination forms.
The court, presided over by Justice Kofi Essel Mensah, said much as it sympathised with Nana Konadu because of her stature in the political game, the EC acted within the law because the law mandated it to declare two days for the receipt of nomination forms.
It said that it did not agree with the applicants that the EC gave only a day for that exercise and that presidential candidates were required to submit their nomination forms by a specified deadline announced by the EC.
It said the EC was not required to give reasons when it rejected nomination forms and, particularly in the case of the applicants, there were many blank columns on the forms submitted.
The EC Chairman, the court held, had been improperly joined in the case and, therefore, struck out his name.
The NDP had contended that the decision by the EC to reject Nana Konadu’s nomination forms was wrong and inconsistent with the electoral law and the 1992 Constitution.
It said it was also against the flag bearer’s fundamental human right as enshrined in the Constitution. Consequently, the party and its flag bearer went to court to seek an order of judicial review of the EC’s decision and a declaration that the EC acted ultra vires when it set two days to receive nomination forms from presidential candidates.
It sought a further order to enforce the fundamental human rights of the its flag bearer.
The NDP and its flag bearer instituted the action against the EC and the Attorney-General (A-G), but the A-G did not partake in the matter.
On October 19, 2012, the EC rejected the former First Lady’s nomination papers, citing major errors on the forms. Other parties that had their forms rejected were the Independent People’s Party (IPP), the New Vision Party (NVP) and the YES People’s Party (YPP). The IPP and the NVP are also known to have gone to court to seek redress.
Story by Stephen Sah