The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has responded to the petition filed by former President John Dramani Mahama at the Supreme Court.
The EC in it’s response said the petition by the former president was “misconceived and untenable” for Former President Mahama in the petition, to rely on the error made by the Chairperson of the EC on December 9, 2020 , when she inadvertently mentioned the total number of votes cast as the total valid votes.
“The full results of the December 7 presidential election was known to the petitioner and that the claims in the petition are contrived, have no legal basis and ought to be dismissed,” the EC argued.
Based on preliminary legal objections, the EC is asking the Supreme Court to throw out the petition without even going into its merit.
What Mahama wants the Court to order the EC to do
Mr. Mahama is seeking an order of injunction restraining President Akufo-Addo from holding himself as the President-elect.
In his petition, the former president is further asking the court to order the electoral body to conduct a second election with only him and President Akufo-Addo as the candidates.
It is the case of Mr. Mahama that the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa, breached the 1992 Constitution, specifically Article 63(3) with the declaration that she made on December 9, 2020.
He is also asking the court to declare that based on the data contained in the declaration “no candidate satisfied” the more than 50 percent threshold required to be declared a winner of the presidential poll.
He also wants a declaration from the court that the said declaration of President Akufo-Addo as the President-elect by the EC is “unconstitutional, null, void and of no legal effect”.
In his petition, the former President argues that the results announced by Mrs Mensa on December 9, 2020 did not give any candidate the more than 50 per cent threshold.
He said the EC Chairperson announced the total valid votes cast as 13,434,574, minus the results of Techiman South, with President Akufo-Addo obtaining 6,730,413 of the votes representing 51.595 percent of the votes while he (Mahama) got 6,214,889 representing 47.366 percent of the votes.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
