EC stays off NDC elections

The Electoral Commission (EC) will not supervise Saturday’s Presidential and Parliamentary primaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) until all legal issues associated with it are resolved.

This follows an application for interlocutory injunction served on the commission last Tuesday (May 9, 2023) seeking to restrain the electoral management body from supervising the primaries due to alleged anomalies with the party’s voter’s register.

The writ was filed by one of the three flag bearer aspirants of the NDC, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, last Monday (May 8, 2023).

Decision

The Chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, made known the decision of the commission at a meeting with the NDC yesterday.

“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,” she said.

Giving a background to the issue, Mrs Mensa said the commission was invited by the NDC to supervise the conduct of its presidential and parliamentary primaries slated for Saturday, May 13, 2023.

She said based on that, several meetings were held between the commission and the Elections Committee of the NDC to discuss the modalities for the polls and a set of guidelines were agreed upon.

Key among the guidelines, she said, was the requirement that the register to govern the elections would be made available to the contesting parties by the Elections Committee of the NDC at least seven days before the conduct of the elections.

“Earlier this week, the commission received a letter from Dr Kwabena Duffuor’s campaign team alleging various errors and anomalies with the register,” she stated.

“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,” Ms Mensa added.

She said that the meeting was to have been held yesterday.

 However, she said following the court injunction served on the commission last Tuesday, it decided to call off the meeting and also not supervise the elections.

IPAC

Mrs Mensa said the NDC had since 2021 not taken part in the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting of the EC.

She, therefore, expressed the hope that the party honouring the invitation of the commission to the meeting would pave the way for the NDC to return to IPAC and be part of the important discussions that took place there.