Election Petition: Hearing begins today

The Supreme Court of Ghana will today begin hearings on the presidential election petition filed by John Dramani Mahama who is praying the court to order a rerun of the December 7, 2020, election between himself and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He avers that neither him nor Nana Akufo-Addo, named as 2nd Respondent, being the two leading candidates obtained more than 50 per cent of the valid votes cast per the results declared by Jean Mensa, the EC Chairperson on 9 December.

Mahama argues further that if that 9 December Declaration which was based on wrong results and a wrong calculation of the then outstanding Techiman South Results were considered, then there was no winner, thereby necessitating a rerun.

In summary, Mahama, through his lawyers, is praying to the Supreme Court to annul the Declaration of 9 December as unconstitutional and further that all subsequent amendments by the EC, to the extent that those amendments were announced without a prior re-collation in the presence of the agents of the candidates as required by Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 127, but were thrust on the people of Ghana via unsigned press statements are null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

Akufo-Addo had indicated that the evidence of vote padding produced by the Petition amounts to just 6622 votes, which are insignificant since he was validly elected based on Article 64(1) by a margin of some 500 thousand votes.

He stated that more than 38 thousand polling station results witnessed by the general public and international observers attest to his win.

He, however, entered into quicksand in paragraph 35 of his Answer when he stated that the results were “corroborated by all media houses of note in the country as well as many local and international observers”.

Documents relating to the case reveal a hearing date fixed for Thursday, January 14, 2021.

Judgement should be delivered by 10 February according to the rules governing the case.