EC says it will not supervise NDC primaries until court determines case
The Electoral Commission (EC) says it will not be able to supervise the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) presidential and parliamentary primaries this Saturday until the determination of an injunction on the elections.
This is to avoid being cited for contempt, the Commission told leadership of the NDC at a meeting in Accra on Wednesday.
Dr Kwabena Duffuor, one of the three presidential aspirants of the NDC on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, filed an interlocutory injunction against the primaries, barring the Party and the Electoral Commission from holding the elections pending the production of a complete photo album register.
Dr Duffuor said the Voters Register for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary polls was plagued with several errors and anomalies.
Mrs Jean Mensa, the EC Chairperson, said the Commission had held several meetings with Elections Committee of the NDC to discuss modalities of the primaries and that a set of guidelines was agreed on.
She said key among the requirements was that the register to govern the elections be made available to the contesting parties by the Elections Committee of the NDC at least seven days before the conduct of the elections.
The EC Chair said earlier in the week, the Commission received a letter from the Kwabena Duffuor Campaign Team alleging various errors and anomalies with the register.
“It was based on this, that the Commission felt it necessary to meet with the Elections Committee of the NDC as well as the representatives of the presidential aspirants to deliberate on this matter and agree on a way forward.
“That meeting was to have been held today,” Mrs Mensa said.
However, she said, on Tuesday, the Commission was served with an application for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the Commission from supervising the conduct of the presidential and parliamentary primaries due to the alleged anomalies with the register.
“Gentlemen, in order that we are not cited for contempt, the Commission has taken the decision not to supervise the conduct of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections until after the determination of the case by the court.
“We thought we should bring this to your attention,” the EC Chairperson stated.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) earlier, the leadership of the NDC said it would comply with the orders and processes of the court.
Mr Mustapha Gbandi, a Deputy General Secretary of the Party, said the Party leadership was in consultation with its elders to find a solution to the impasse.
“This is an internal contest so, we believe that whatever the grievances, some solutions can always be proffered. And so, we are currently in consultations with elders of the Party to see how to get the issues resolved and then we can move on,” he said.
Source: GNA