EC dragged to court over district assembly elections

A fisherman in the Effutu District in the Central region, Benjamin Eyi Mensah has dragged the Electoral Commission to court after he was disqualified from contesting in the upcoming District Assembly elections.

According to Mr. Mensah’s lawyer, Alexander Afenyo Markin, his client was disqualified from the race on grounds of late submission of nomination forms.

Afenyo Markin said his client picked his forms and duly completed them for submission on Monday, December 22, 2014 but was informed by both the District Electoral Officer and her Returning Officer that the filing of nominations closed on Sunday, December 21, 2014 at 5pm.

Nominations for the District Assembly Elections were held on Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21 from 8:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00pm to 5:00pm each day, in 2014, while nominations for the Unit Committee Elections took place on Monday, December 22, 2014 and Tuesday, December 23, 2014.

However, in a letter written to the EC, Afenyo-Markin argued that the EC’s decision to open and close nominations at the said date was inconsistent and in contravention of Article 45(b) and 51 of the 1992 Constitution.

Afenyo-Markin further stated that the EC’s decision was “not fortified by the law”.

“The exercise so conducted in receiving forms and closing nominations does not have any legal basis and same can be said to be unconstitutional,” he maintained.

Markin is therefore asking the court to order the EC to re-open nominations for the district assembly and allow others who failed to submit their forms do so.