Ayariga, EC back in court

Lawyers for Hassan Ayariga, the presidential candidate of the All Peoples Congress (APC), are back in court in an attempt to quash the disqualification of their client by the Electoral Commission (EC).

The parties are expected to make oral arguments after the High Court last week abridged the time suo motu, paving the way for the case to be heard today.

The court, presided over by Justice Barbra Tetteh Charway, also ordered both parties to file their statements of case last Friday.

Ayariga is praying the court to reverse the decision by the electoral body, headed by Charlotte Osei, which disqualified him from the presidential race.

Last week, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, sitting as a commercial court judge, quashed the decision by the EC to disqualify Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, presidential aspirant of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP)

A High Court also dismissed an application for Judicial Review and enforcement of fundamental human rights filed against the EC by former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.

The APC presidential hopeful contends that the EC has no power to disqualify him and as such seeking the orders of the court to compel the commission to accept his nomination form and include his name on this year’s presidential ballot.

According to Mr Ayariga, even if the EC had the powers to disqualify him, “its failure to adhere to due process was so unjust and perverted as to deprive the commission of its powers.”

He is therefore seeking a declaration that the EC’s closure of the nomination period on October 10, without notifying the applicants of any outstanding issues amounted in law to a representation to all candidates and whole world that the applicants nomination form were fully compliant with all requirement of the law and CI 94.

The APC’s flagberear is also seeking a declaration that the purported closure of the nomination period before or without giving him an opportunity to amend any error on his form based on which the EC seeks to invalidate was in breach of natural justice..