Legal luminary Dr. Rainer Akumperigya has espoused that, correction of presidential election results even for once is an illegality committed by the EC chairperson.
The Electoral Commission after declaring the 2020 presidential election results on December 9, issued a press statement the following day to correct the figures it declared. Due to this the electoral commission came under severe backlash from Ghanaians.
However, the law lecturer of GIMPA in a facebook post elucidated on some of the legal implications surrounding the subject matter, noting, according to the 1992 constitution of Ghana, any commissioner who declares presidential election results twice has infringe the laws governing our electoral laws.
He said, “Regulation 44 (10) of C. I. 127 mandates the EC chair to declare Presidential results but only ONCE. The declaration is done in the public and in the presence of candidates’ agents/reps. The EC’s chair after her declaration becomes functus officio. Under C. I. 127, there are no provisions for corrections, revisions, recomputations of the Presidential results let alone unilaterally by the EC”.
“Any questions whether the said declaration lawfully expressed the will of the people or contained computational errors or was in accordance with law are matters to be enquired into and determined by a court of law and preferably with the involvement of the candidates’ agents if prior to declaration,the post read.
He further stated, “It will be absurd interpretation of the law to say that the power to declare Presidential polls includes the power to edit, correct and re-declare. The inevitable question would then be- how many times can the EC correct and re-declare? And for how long? And does it matter that the effect of such changes would be alternating the winners and losers? Secondly, once Regulation 44 requires presidential declaration to be in public and in the presence of candidates’ agents, does it not infer that a re-declaration should similarly follow same procedure? And if the law intended corrections and redeclaration, why did it not say so expressly?He queried.
It appears to follow that the purported corrections and redeclaration of the Presidential results by the EC are without legal basis. Same should be null and void,Rainer Akumperigya added .
Filed By : Agaatorne Douglas Asaah / awakenewsroom.com
