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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Electoral Commission (EC) have given their responses to an electoral petition presented by the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama, challenging the statement of President Akufo- Addo as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
For President Akufo-Addo, the request is unfounded and rather an attempt to “save the face” of former President Mahama.
“The instant action is a ruse and a gimmick to save the petitioner’s face, after the petitioner and many high-ranking members of the NDC party had prematurely claimed an outright victory in the election, only to be seriously exposed by the results of the first respondent (CE), corroborated by all the country’s media, as well as by many independent local and international observers, ”argued President Akufo-Addo.
In separate responses to the petition filed in the Supreme Court Registry on Saturday, January 9, 2021, the two defendants described the petition as one that lacks merit, is incompetent, and does not raise any reasonable cause of action.
Both, in addition to attacking the merits of the petition, have also raised a preliminary judicial objection, arguing that the petition does not even meet the requirement of article 64 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.
It is the case of both that the petition does not allege a violation in any of the elections held in the 38,622 polling stations and 311 special voting centers.
Based on preliminary legal objections, President Akufo-Addo and the EC request the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition without even entering on its merits.
Defendant’s case
It is the case of President Akufo-Addo that the petition of former President Mahama seeks to challenge the EC’s declaration of results, and not the election itself.
It maintains that this renders the petition incompetent, arguing that the alleged inaccuracies in the declaration of the results do not mean that the choice of the “second defendant (Akufo-Addo) is invalid.”
For the EC, it was “erroneous and untenable” that former President Mahama in the petition relied on the mistake made by the President of the EC on December 9, 2020, when she inadvertently mentioned the total number of votes cast as the total Votes valid.
“The petitioner knew the complete results of the presidential elections of December 7 and that the claims in the petition are artificial, have no legal basis and should be rejected,” argued the EC.
more to follow …
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