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Ayariga doubts EC’s credibility

The High Court instructed the EC to give an opportunity to the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) to correct errors on their nomination papers.

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The High Court instructed the EC to give an opportunity to the PPP to correct errors on their nomination form.

According to the judge, His Lordship George Kyei Baffour the EC did not adhere to their own regulations spelt in the Constitutional Instrument (CI 44).

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Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom sued the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei and the Electoral Commission as the first and second respondents respectively after he was disqualified from contesting the December 7 presidential election.

Dr Nduom was part of 13 aspirants disqualified from contesting in the December elections over alleged illegalities on their nomination forms.

Dr Nduom, according to the EC, was disqualified because “the number of subscribers to his forms did not meet the requirements of Regulation 7 (2) (b) of CI 94

The subscriber was found to be on the Voter’s Register in one district thereby disqualifying his second subscription and reducing the total number of subscribers to below the minimum required by the Law.

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The same subscriber (Richard Aseda (‘Asida’) endorsed the form with different signatures in both portions of the nomination form. This raises questions as to the legitimacy of one or both signatures.

Dr. Nduom will be allowed to contest the Presidential elections if the mistakes on his forms are corrected.

Commenting on the ruling, Ayariga said, "I think our laws are working and congratulations to the lawyers of the PPP and of course to the court for doing the right thing. We want to promote multiparty democracy and not to destroy multi party democracy. I’ve said it that the EC must act properly because their credibility is in question now because you have to be very careful before you pass certain laws or you disqualify certain political parties. The PPP is a serious political party, the APC is a serious political party. You cannot say because of minor issues you disqualify them."

“When you make wrong decisions, it affects your credibility… You ought to get legal advice before you go out to make certain decisions or pronouncement that is why we have lawyers."

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"The EC as an institution has a lawyer; they should have given them advice. How many people came to endorse APC flag bearer? Over 3000! How many people endorsed the PPP flag bearer? Over 3000 delegates and you think they cannot get 432 people to endorse a form? ...I’ve been asking for justice and that is all we are seeking for,” he stated.

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