We will scuttle December polls - PPP

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has advised the Electoral Commission to reconsider the disqualification of its flag bearer, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, from the December 7 elections else the party will prevent the polls from being held.

“Madam Charlotte Osei and the Commission should study their own law and they should get proper legal advice, otherwise this election is not coming on,” Policy Advisor of the PPP Kofi Asamoah-Siaw told Emefa Apawu on Class91.3FM’s 505 news programme on Monday, 10 October.

Mr Asamoah-Siaw accused the EC of lacking the ability to comprehend electoral laws, indicating that they erred by invalidating the forms of Dr Nduom because the laws allow for corrections and re-submission of forms if anomalies are detected in the filing.

“The EC appears not to understand its own regulation. …Madam Charlotte [Osei] is wrong and should have read the regulations properly,” he added.

“What the EC needed to do was to allow the candidate to come back and tell them what they found wrong for it to be corrected but no such thing was communicated to the PPP and the other [disqualified] candidates.”

He added that “the mood in the PPP camp is calm and the disqualification will not stand in the face of laws governing elections in this country”. Mr Asamoah-Siaw cautioned the EC against prosecuting any agenda aimed at eliminating the PPP based on illegal reasons.

Dr Nduom is part of some 13 presidential aspirants who were disqualified from contesting the presidential polls this year.

The others disqualified include the flag bearer of the All People’s Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga; Dr Edward Mahama of the People’s National Convention (PNC); Dr Agyenim Boateng of the United Front Party (UFP); Kofi Akpaloo of the Independent People’s Party (IPP); and Kwabena Adjei of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD.

The others include: Dr Henry Herbert Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP); Mr Richard Nixon Tetteh (United Development Systems Party); Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings of the National Democratic Party (NDP); Thomas Ward-Brew of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP); Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker, an independent candidate, and Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP). Mr Akwasi Addae Odike of the United Progressive Party’s nomination is on hold pending a court case.

The chair of the EC, Mrs Charlotte Osei, cited filing anomalies including fraudulent signatures, absence of a required number of signatures, improper filling of nomination forms, among others, as the reasons for their disqualification. In the case of Mr Odike, Mrs Osei said Mr Odike had been given up to Friday, 14 October to deal with the court case or count himself out of the race completely.

Mrs Osei said some of the fraudulent information provided by the nominees would be followed up by the police for possible arrest and prosecution.

Those whose nominations have been accepted include President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Akufo-Addo of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Ivor Greenstreet of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), and Jacob Osei Yeboah – an independent aspirant.