Minority demands restart of district level elections Minority in parliament is demanding that the Electoral Commission (EC) restarts preparations for the district level elections following the maturation of the CI 85 on Monday, December 22, 2014. They say the EC will be in violation of the constitution if it goes ahead with the elections next year. Although nominations for the elections were closed last Sunday, the constitutional instrument which gives them the legal backing to hold the elections only matured yesterday. Minority Leader in parliament, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu who first raised the issue on the floor of parliament said the EC’s actions make mockery of the constitutional provision relating to the holding of elections. “Whereas the instrument has not matured, the Electoral Commission has already started implementing the contents of the instrument and it is most irregular. The EC must be called to order.” He said the EC cannot continue with the implementation when electoral areas have not been well defined. The CI 85 is a legal instrument which seeks to demarcate electoral boundaries for the district elections in 2015. In all, 6,156 electoral areas have been created. Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markins told Joy News Elton Brobbey that the EC’s actions may result in a legal suit if they refuse to restart the process. ADVERTISEMENT “The Electoral Commission is not above the law; it must respect the constitution of Ghana and the laws governing it. CI 85 was laid before parliament and had 21 days to mature, therefore, before they take any steps by opening and closing nominations, the law governing the process should have been opened before it was done.” He indicated that whatever the EC has done before the instrument became effective has no effect in law and that it is purely unconstitutional and illegal. He charged the EC to begin the entire process again or face the wrath of the law. The MP said parliament cannot be blamed for delaying the approval of the CI 85 and that “if they decide not to do their work on time they cannot rush parliament. Why won’t the EC wait but go ahead and open nominations when it knows that the CI has not been laid”, he questioned. Meanwhile, the EC has declined comments on the issue, explaining that they will issue a formal statement of the issue later.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:38:29 +0000
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