The Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has disclosed that the party will not accept the re-collation of the December 7th Parliamentary election conducted on Sunday, January 5, 2025.
The Electoral Commission (EC) on Sunday 5th January, 2025, re-collated the parliamentary results of the four outstanding constituencies, declaring NPP parliamentary candidates of three out of the four outstanding constituencies victors.
The EC declared NPP’s Charles Forson as the Member of Parliament-elect for Tema Central, Patrick Yaw Boamah of the NPP was declared the MP-elect for Okaikwei Central constituency, and Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah as the Member of Parliament-elect for Techiman South. The re-collation exercise for Ablekuma North, was suspended indefinitely by the Electoral Commission due to discrepancies in figures from 20 polling stations.
Sunday’s re-collation exercise followed a ruling by the High Court in Accra, on Saturday, January 4, which granted a mandamus application by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to compel the EC to re-collate results from these constituencies and declare winners.
However, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has described the process as illegal and vowed that it would be challenged in court to its logical conclusion. According to him, the NDC has filed notices of appeal and stay of execution against the High Court ruling that directed the EC to complete the collation and declaration of results in the disputed constituencies. He said the re-collation by the EC on Sunday 5th January, 2025 violates the law and therefore illegal.
“The basis of our rejection is that yesterday, immediately after those rulings, we filed notices of appeal and not only notices of appeal, we mounted applications to stay the execution of those orders. The bailiff went to the Electoral Commission office, even though the office was open with security people. They claimed that there were no officers to receive.
“We proceeded to the law firm of the lawyers representing the Electoral Commission, and the clerk of the law firm was duly served with the notice of appeal and the application to stay the execution of those orders. It is our belief that whatever the Electoral Commission wanted to do, based on the service of the process on their council, they were going to, as it were, advise them not to proceed.
“But it appears this morning, the Electoral Commission has.decided to defy all the processes that we have filled and to go ahead. We want to put it on record. This is just the beginning of a long drawn battle.” He said.
Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, urged the Electoral Commission to respect the processes of the court to ensure transparency in the discharging of its mandate.
“It is in the interest of the Commission to have respected the processes of the courts rather than collude with those NPP candidates to do what appears to be purported re-declarations. The Electoral Commission is not learning. Unfortunately,
“The stubbornness of the commissioners is amazing. The last time you hardly proceeded to do this declaration on the basis of a court order. Subsequently, that order was set aside and everything that you have done.
“Sometimes you want to believe that sobriety will be the lot of these commissioners. But they are so much in haste, they are so much in haste, just to please the NPP, against allowing due process to take his course. I cannot show you, and like I pointed out, we are going to fight this matter to its logical conclusion.” He said
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
