Who gets on presidential ballot? As Supreme Court clears way today

With exactly four weeks left for Ghanaians to exercise their franchise in the December 7, 2016 general election, voters are not sure about who among the presidential aspirants of the various political parties will get on the presidential ballot paper.

Although four candidates — President John Dramani Mahama of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, an independent candidate — have been cleared by the Electoral Commission (EC), the fate of 12 others hangs in the balance.

Race for Presidency

Intriguingly, the presidential aspirant of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has been cleared by an Accra High Court, but his nomination forms are yet to be accepted by the EC, which has gone to the Supreme Court to quash the High Court order to it to allow Dr Nduom to correct anomalies on his nomination forms.

Relatedly, the flag bearer of the All people’s Congress (APC), Mr Hassan Ayariga, also sailed through last Friday at the Accra High Court where he had filed an appeal against his disqualification. 

Meanwhile, his nomination forms are yet to be accepted by the election management body.

Already, some of the disqualified aspirants, including the flag bearers of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and Dr Edward Nasigre Mahama, respectively, are all in court to reverse the EC’s decision to disqualify them. 

Supreme Court rules today

Dr Nduom will know his fate at the Supreme Court today, as the apex court of the land, hopefully, brings to a close the controversy surrounding his disqualification from the December 7 polls.

Although the court will give its ruling specifically on the legality or otherwise of Dr Nduom’s disqualification, its landmark decision will have an impact on the other aspirants who have filed similar suits.

Background

So far, the High Court, in two separate rulings on October 28 and November 4, 2016, has directed the EC to allow Dr Nduom and Mr Ayariga to correct anomalies on their nomination forms. 

Many are those who had expected the commission to abide by the High Court ruling and allow the electoral process to roll on unhindered, but that was not to be, as, in a swift move, a dissatisfied EC proceeded to the Supreme Court on Monday, October 30, 2016 to invoke the court’s supervisory jurisdiction to quash the October 28, 2016 High Court ruling by Mr Justice Eric Kyei-Baffour which had directed the EC to permit Dr Nduom to effect corrections on his nomination forms.

Mixed reactions

Notwithstanding the mixed reactions by governance experts and legal practitioners to the EC’s decision to disqualify 12 presidential aspirants from contesting this year’s elections, the EC is confident that it is on course to deliver world-class elections, in spite of the legal suits pending at the courts.

Many political observers have, meanwhile, expressed anxiety and doubt over whether the EC could meet the December 7 schedule, the date set for the elections, but according to the EC Chair, Mrs Charlotte Osei, in a BBC interview last Thursday, the commission would be able to conduct the general election, in spite of the legal suits.

Already, she said, the EC had set in motion the printing of ballot papers for the parliamentary election and was waiting for the legal suits to be cleared before going ahead with the printing of the ballot papers for the presidential election.

“From the point of view of the commission, the elections will definitely happen on December 7,” she declared in the said interview.

Political watchers are waiting with bated breath, with barely a month to go for the crucial elections, to see how prepared the EC is to deliver the promised “world-class elections”, especially should the law suits drag on.

Some have also insisted that the way forward is for the EC to play a role as a facilitator and have more engagements instead of ‘headteacher and pupil” relations.

Presidential campaigning

Meanwhile, presidential campaigning continues unabated, as both cleared and rejected aspirants criss-cross the country canvassing for the hearts and minds of the Ghanaian electorate.

President Mahama, who is currently in the Ashanti Region, has set an ambitious target of winning 13 parliamentary seats in the region at the December polls. 

"By the Grace of God we will win the seats," he said at a rally at Apagya in the New Edubiase Constituency when he commenced his four-day campaign tour of the region last Saturday. 

Addressing separate gatherings of people in the Ahanta West, Kwesimintsim, Takoradi and Essikado-Ketan constituencies in the Western Region, Nana Akufo-Addo announced a number of plans aimed at revamping the industrial sector of the country and providing the needed support for economic turnaround.

Mr Greenstreet has crowned his Greater Accra campaign tour with a mini-rally at Prampram, promising to build a cold store for the community if the CPP is given the mandate to govern.

As of the time of filing this report, the CPP flag bearer was on his way to Asuogyaman in the Eastern Region with his “Apam foforo” campaign message, which literally means a “New covenant” with the people, focusing on social justice, self-determination and pan-Africanism. 

So far the only independent presidential candidate in the 2016 election, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, has, at separate functions, addressed students of the Winneba Nursing Training School in the Central Region and the Regent University College of Science and Technology in Accra. 

He espoused his trust in the Ghanaian dream, which he defined as creating wealth out of the numerous natural resources the country was endowed with to create more jobs, particularly for the youth in both the public and the private sectors.

Dr Nduom, currently on a tour of four regions — Brong Ahafo, Upper West, Upper East and Northern — last Saturday had two rallies at Techiman and Wenchi in Brong Ahafo as part of his campaign to solicit for votes ahead of the December 7 polls.

He encouraged voters to consider voting for candidates with a proven track record and not those who only engaged in sweet promises but when given the mandate to rule brought misery and poverty to the people.

Nana Konadu has already taken her campaign to queenmothers in the Volta, Central and Western regions and is currently visiting market queens with her message of good governance devoid of corruption.

Mr Ayariga resumed his campaign at Madina in Accra last Saturday, where he urged the electorate to endorse the APC ahead of its competitors on December 7 and enjoy an all-inclusive governance.

Dr Herbert Henry Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) is also doing targeted campaigning, touting the concept of “domestication” as the panacea for reviving the nation’s dwindling fortunes.

Even though the EC’s decision to reject the nomination forms of some aspirants has put the campaign of those aspirants in limbo, some of them, including the PNC’s Dr Mahama, are quite strategic in their campaigning and are leaving no stone unturned, with some doing house-to-house and door-to-door campaigning.

2012 Voting trends

In the 2012  general election, President Mahama had 5,574,761 votes, representing 50.70 per cent of the valid votes cast, while Nana Akufo-Addo had 5,248,898, representing 47.74 per cent, with Dr Nduom getting 64,362, representing 0.59 per cent.

Dr Lartey had 38,223 votes, representing 0.35 per cent; Mr Ayariga, then of the PNC, had 24,617, representing 0.22 per cent; Dr Abu Sakara of the CPP had 20,323, representing 0.18 per cent; while Mr Osei Yeboah had 15,201, representing 0.14 per cent, with Kwasi Addai of the United Front Party (UFP) getting 8,877 votes, representing 0.08 per cent.

There were 14,158,890 registered voters, out of which 11,246,982 cast their votes. 

Out of the total votes cast, 10,995,262 were valid, while 251,720 were rejected.