EU lauds Akufo-Addo over election petition

The European Union (EU) has commended the 2012 Presidential Candidate of theNew Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for using the court, rather than violence in challenging the results of his country’s 2012 presidential election results.

Nana Akufo-Addo and his Running Mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s Chairman Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, who are the petitioners in the case, argue that the 2012 elections were fraught with so many irregularities, thus their petition to the Supreme Court.

The EU has in a letter signed by Pedro Serrano, a Member of Cabinet of the European Council and the Principal Advisor on External Relations to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, commended the petitioners for resorting to the court.

The letter from the Union was in response to a petition submitted to the President of the European Council by the Association of Concerned Ghanaians in Europe.

“The EU has consistently called upon parties with grievances in to the electoral process to seek redress through the appropriate legal channels. Accordingly, the EU considers that the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Akufo-Addo, his running mate and the chairman of the NPP were right to seek their grievances addressed through the petition submitted to the Supreme Court. It is now for the Supreme Court to make a ruling on the alleged irregularities based on the evidence submitted”, the letter dated May 13, 2013 said.

The EU indicated in the letter that it was closely following the petition hearings, as well as the publicly declared commitments of both Nana Akufo-Addo and President John Mahama to respect the verdict of the Supreme Court on the matter.

The Union pledged to continuously follow the process in court and support the rule of law in Ghana and to do its part to ensure that all parties respect the eventual verdict of the Supreme Court.

The petitioners filed the case December 28, 2012 to challenge the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as winner of the December Presidential Election as a result of what the party refers to as “numerous constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices which affected the conduct and outcome of the polls”.

They are requesting the Supreme Court to annul results from over 11,000 polling stations where the alleged irregularities have been identified to have occurred following an analysis of the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms (Pink Sheets), the primary and official record of the elections in those polling stations by the NPP.