For being the first presidential nominee to submit his forms to Electoral Commission, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), believes he will naturally be declared winner of the December 7 presidential poll.
While submitting his forms on Thursday September 29, he told EC Chair Mrs Charlotte Osei that: “Since I’m the first to file my forms, by God’s grace I will be the first person you’ll declare [winner].”
Nana Akufo-Addo’s form was received by Mrs Osei. However, the Commission refused to accept the GHS50,000 banker’s draft that his team attached to the form because the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) had sued the EC over the filing fee. Class News’ Kwesi Parker-Williams reported from the EC’s office that the EC would in same fashion decline the GHS50,000 banker’s draft of all the other presidential nominees so as not to be in contempt of court.
The PPP sued the election management body a few weeks ago in an attempt to have the court force it to review the presidential nomination fee.
The PPP is seeking a declaration that Regulation 45 of C. I. 94 is discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable. “That the entire C.I. 94 does not contain the appropriate relevant provisions that meet the intendment of Article 296 of the 1992 Constitution.”
The other reliefs sought include: “A declaration that the proper instrument within the meaning of the relevant laws of the Republic of Ghana, in charging a deposit or fees for conducting a presidential or parliamentary election, by the Electoral Commission, is a statutory instrument and not constitutional instrument.” “An order directed at the defendants to desist from collecting and or receiving the said deposit or fees for the conduct of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections until the appropriate statutory instruments have been passed in accordance with appropriate legal rights.”
So far 23 nominees, including seven independent aspirants have picked forms to run for the presidency. They are to start filing their nominations between today and Friday September 30.
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