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Mr. David Boateng Asante – MD, Ghana Publishing Company Limited
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s declaration as the winner of the 2020 presidential election has been published by Ghana Publishing Company Limited (GPCL).
That makes the statement legally binding and recognized by law.
The gazette was made on December 10, 2020, one day after the declaration of the Returner of the presidential election and President of the Electoral Commission (EC), Ms. Jean Mensa.
In the 2016 general elections, the EC declared the winner of the presidential election on December 9, sent it for official publication on December 12, while the current official publication took place on December 14, 2016.
Gazette content
The declaration of the 2020 presidential elections, which has been published, is a constitutional instrument (CI 135) signed by Ms. Mensa.
It states: “In exercise of the power conferred on the Electoral Commission by virtue of article 63 (9) of the 1992 Constitution, this instrument is prepared.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (PNP), having obtained, in the Presidential Elections held on December 7, 2020, in accordance with article 63 (3) of the Constitution, more than fifty percent One hundred of the total number of valid votes cast, you hereby declare yourself President-elect of the Republic of Ghana.
Gazette
The official publication is the last stage in the presidential election declaration process and is in line with Regulation 44 (12) of the Public Elections Regulation, 2020, CI 127.
With the official publication done, any of the presidential candidates in the 2020 presidential elections who are aggrieved by the results can now file a petition for a presidential election in the Supreme Court to challenge the EC statement.
GPCL Public Relations Manager Ms Juliana Danquah told Graphic Online on Wednesday [December 16, 2020] that since the declaration was a CI, it went through the official publication procedure of CI, executive instruments (IE) and other laws.
He said it was not like publishing other documents, like the renaming, where the GPCL could edit to correct typos and other inadvertent mistakes.
The text of the declaration, he explained, came from the EC, and the GPCL only had responsibility for typesetting and printing.
“Once this is done, it is sent back to the EC for any correction or amendment. We don’t touch the text; we just do the typesetting and printing, ”he said.
He claimed that only the presidential statement had been released and that the parliamentary statements had not yet been made.
“When the EC presents the parliamentary statements, they will also be published accordingly,” he added.
What the law says
CI 127 details the steps involved in the counting of the ballots, the compilation and the final declaration of the results of the presidential elections by the President of the EC, who is the scrutineer of the presidential elections.
Regulation 44 (7) of CI 47 establishes that after the votes have been counted in the polling stations, the results will be sent to the scrutineer of the constituency for their collation, after which they will be sent to the District Election Officer of the Commission.
Once the results collected have been received, the District Electoral Officer will forward them to the Regional Matching Officer (rule 44 (8)), who in turn will compile all the results from the electoral districts and forward them to the President of the EC (rule 44 (9).
In accordance with rule 44 (10), the EC President will collect and collate all the results of the presidential elections of all regional matching officials and will also declare any candidate who obtains more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast as President elect.
The law establishes that the computation of the results of the electoral colleges at the level of constituency and regional and headquarters of the EC will be done in the presence of agents of the political parties.
After the declaration, regulation 44 (11) of CI 127 orders the EC President to execute an CI indicating the name of the person declared as President-elect.
The person named in the IC as declared president-elect is prima facie evidence that the person named was elected.
Regulation 44 (120 of CI 127 stipulates that “the instrument referred to in the sub-regulation (11) will be published in the Gazette”.
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