The Electoral Commission has revealed that the NDC contestant in the just-ended Kumawu by-election was not a registered voter in that constituency.
According to the Commission, Kwasi Amankwaa had his name on the Ayawaso West Wougon voters register at the time he was contesting the Kumawu by election.
The EC made this disclosure when responding to the NDC’s claim of smuggling Charles Opoku, the NPP aspirant, into the Assin North voter’s register because, according to the NDC, he is not a registered voter from that constituency.
“For the information of the general public, the NDC candidate for the recent by-election, Kwasi Amankwaa, is not a registered voter in the Kumawu Constituency. He is a registered voter in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, yet he contested in the Kumawu By-election because he hails from there”, parts of the statement of the EC read.
In a previous statement, the EC maintained that, per Article 94 (1) of the 1992 constituency law, a candidate need not be a registered voter of that constituency to contest an election in that same constituency.
But the NDC, in a response, disagreed with the Commission, citing the EC’s CI 127, which stated that the nomination of a candidate had to be supported by registered voters within the constituency.
The NDC posited that the candidacy of the nominee can only be supported if the candidate is a registered voter in that constituency.
