The Electoral Commission has responded yet again to the press statement from the NDC that Article 94 (1) is not enough to render the nomination of NPP aspirant Charles Opoku legal.
Quoting a portion of CI 127 that suggested that persons who nominate the candidate must be of the same constituency, the Electoral Commission insisted that the fact that persons nominating a candidate [who necessarily must not be registered voters in that constituency] are registered voters within the same constituency makes the nomination of the candidate lawful.
“For the benefit of the public, the Nomination Form states as follows: ‘We the undersigned registered voters in ………………… Constituency do hereby nominate…………. ‘of the same Constituency’ to stand for election as a Member of Parliament, and we hereby certify that to the best of our knowledge he/she is qualified to be elected as such’.”
“The nomination form only requires those nominating a candidate for a parliamentary election in a Constituency to be registered voters in the same Constituency, and not the candidate who is being nominated to contest. The candidate is only required to hail from or reside in the Constituency to qualify to contest in that Constituency”, the Commission argued.
The Electoral Commission criticized the NDC for its renewed attempt to malign the institution using false, unsubstantiated claims.
“Over the years Sammy Gyamfi and his party have put out false claims aimed at maligning the integrity of the EC. This was evident in their petition to th Supreme Court after they alleged that they have won the elections,” the ECs stated.
See the statement from the EC below:
