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The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has condemned the Electoral Commission’s (EC) statement defending itself from transferring the vote of one Charles Opoku to the Assin North Constituency to enable him contest the upcoming by-election in the said constituency.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) alleged that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was collaborating with EC to transfer and insert the name of Charles Opoku, into the Voters Register of the Assin North constituency.
According to the NDC, this illegal move is to aid the said Charles Opoku to contest in the NPP Parliamentary primaries to select a candidate for the upcoming Assin North by-election.
“Our unimpeachable sources have revealed that contrary to the clear requirement on the nomination form for the Assin North by-election, which demands that a candidate in the election must be a registered voter in Assin North, the said Charles Opoku is not a registered voter in the Assin North Constituency,” the NDC stated.
It added that,”It is instructive to note that according to Regulation 22 of the Public Elections Regulations 2020 (C.1 127), voter transfer can only be effected for an ordinary citizen not less than 42 days to a public election. More importantly, transfer applications can only be made to the Returning Officer of a public election. Given the fact that, we have less than 42 days to the by-election in Assin North, and a Returning Officer is yet to be appointed for the same, any transfer of voters to Assin North will be unlawful and the same shall be fiercely rejected by the NDC.”
EC’s Response
Responding to the above allegation by the NDC, the EC denied the allegation, stating that it is not true.
“For the record, the EC has not received any such request from the NPP to transfer the votes of any person. This allegation is false and a figment of the author’s imagination. As usual it is aimed at maligning the integrity of the Electoral Commission,” it stated.
The EC continued that,”Per Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution, a person does not need to be a registered voter in a particular constituency to enable him/her to contest election in that constituency.”
Per the Constitution, the EC explained that simply hailing from a constituency entitles a person to contest election in that constituency so long as the person is a Ghanaian Twenty one years and above of sound mind and a registered voter.
In the event where a person who wishes to contest in a particular constituency does not hail from that constituency, the EC said that person will be eligible to contest if he she is ordinarily resident in that constituency or has been a resident there for a total period of not less than five years out of the ten years immediately preceding the election for which he she stands.
“We make this point to buttress the fact that a person who hails from a constituency per the Constitution need not be a registered voter in the constituency he /she wishes to contest in.
Simply hailing from there is enough. As such there is no reason to engage in transfers as alleged by the NDCs Communications Officer,” EC Added.
The EC added that to date the NDC has not proved a single allegation they have made against it, adding that,”The continuous maligning of state institutions such as the EC by the NDC only weakens and undermines our democracy.”
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Opinion
Speaking on Atinka FM’s AM Drive with Kaakyire Ofori Ayim, Kwesi Pratt Jnr described the EC’s statement as bad, unnecessary and biased.
Instead of the above, he said the EC should have stated that it did not know that somebody was doing that, adding that even if someone was doing that, it is against the law and that they will not allow it and then the case is closed.
He noted that even before the EC’s Statement, the NPP alleged that the NDC’s are against the development of the nation, questioning if it was right for the EC to also say a similar thing at about the same time.
Kwesi Pratt Jnr said the explanation given by the EC was correct based on the interpretation of the constitution of who can contest for an election.
However, the side where the EC said, ‘The continuous maligning of state institutions such as the EC by the NDC only weakens and undermines our democracy,’ was very immature and unnecessary.
“It is an unnecessary statement,” he said.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori