FULL TEXT: EC Disqualifies 5 Presidential Aspirants Ahead Of Election 2020
LET THE CITIZEN KNOW
19TH OCTOBER 2020
ADDRESS DELEIVERED BY MRS. JEAN MENSA,
CHAIRPERSON OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION,
ON DECLARATION OF RESULTS FROM THE FILING OF NOMINATIONS
BY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
FOR THE 2020 ELECTIONS
ON MONDAY THE 19TH OF OCTOBER, 2020 AT 4:00 PM
Good afternoon citizens of Ghana and our friends from the media. We thank the good Lord for this day. His Grace and Mercy has brought us this far and will lead us to peaceful, credible, transparent and fair elections December, 2020 in Jesus’ mighty Name.
On behalf of the Commission, I welcome you to today’s Let the Citizen Know. Today’s encounter is aimed at updating the public on the just ended Filing of Nominations by Presidential Aspirants who wish to contest the December 7th 2020 Elections.
As I emphasized during the weeklong process this is one of the most critical activities in the lead up to the December 2020 Elections, without which, the Commission cannot run the Elections.
As a result we designated Monday 5th October, 2020 to Friday 9th October, 2020, for this important process. We thank all our Stakeholders for their cooperation with the Electoral Commission. It is worth noting that most of the Candidates who filed their nominations presented themselves in a courteous and civil manner. In a nutshell, we achieved our objective of ensuring a peaceful, seamless and productive exercise.
It has been this Commission’s resolve to provide regular and comprehensive updates at every stage of the electoral process. Therefore having completed the process of receiving, reviewing and scrutinizing the Nomination Forms and documents from Presidential Aspirants allow me to update you accordingly.
Set up and Conduct of the Nomination Filing Process in 2020
To enhance and ensure a transparent, credible, fair, peaceful and yet accountable electoral process and election in 2020, the Commission continues to develop innovations to ensure that we carry Citizens along in all our processes. This transparency was evident throughout the Registration and Exhibition Exercises and indeed throughout the week-long Nomination process. As a Commission, we intend to be open and transparent in all our processes and keep you our distinguished stakeholders informed in a timely manner as we inch towards December, 2020.
This year, the Commission made the Nomination Forms to Aspiring Presidential and Parliamentary Candidates available online. This helped ease the burden of travelling to the Commission to pick up the Forms and eliminated over-crowding at the Commission’s offices, thereby curbing the spread of the COVID 19 virus.
The Commission also developed a detailed Checklist that embodied the criteria to be satisfied by Presidential Candidates as prescribed by law. This template guided the scoring and awarding of marks by Teams established by the Commission to review the Nomination Forms submitted.
Moreover, four (4) weeks in advance Nomination Forms were made available on our website. Each Political Party or designated representative was given a unique code to access the Nomination Forms. This eliminated the incidence of different Candidates of the same Political Party filing nominations for the same position.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year, the Commission set up two (2) Teams which were tasked to review all the Forms submitted.
The technical team scrutinised the Forms submitted to ensure that Aspirants satisfied the qualifications as set out in the law such as the; age requirements, the fulfilment of tax obligations among others etc.
We are confident that both Teams have been thorough and yet fair in their work
Yet another welcome innovation was the five (5)-day period provided for the filing process as opposed to the two (2) days provided in previous nomination processes. This allowed enough time for Aspirants to correct any errors identified in their Forms.
All in all these innovations helped eliminate the confusion and tension that characterised previous nomination processes.
Filing of Nomination Forms by Presidential Aspirants
As noted in our last Let The Citizen Know Seventeen (17) Presidential Aspirants filed their nominations to contest the December 7, Presidential Election.
The Commission is happy to note that for the first time in our nation’s history, three (3) women put themselves up for nomination for the position of Presidential Candidate. This is a testament to the growth of our democratic space.
Now to the reason why we are here. At the end of a thorough review process, I have the honour to present to you the Presidential Candidates who have qualified to contest the 2020 Presidential Elections.
CANDIDATES CLEARED TO CONTEST IN THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
1. Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker (Independent Candidate)
2. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (New Patriotic Party)
3. Christian Kwabena Andrews (Ghana Union Movement)
4. Brigitte Akosua Dzogbenuku (Progressive Peoples Party)
5. John Dramani Mahama (National Democratic Congress
6. Akua Donkor (Ghana Freedom Party)
7. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (National Democratic Party)
8. Hassan Ayariga (All People’s Congress)
9. Ivor Kobina Greenstreet (Convention People’s Party)
10. Henry Herbert Lartey (Great Consolidated People’s Party)
11. Percival Kofi Akpaloo (Liberal Party Ghana)
12. David Asibi Ayindenaba Apasera. (People’s National Congress)
CANDIDATES DISQUALIFICATION AND FURTHER REFERRAL TO THE POLICE FOR PROSECUTION ON THE GROUNDS OF FORGERY
1. Kofi Koranteng (Independent Candidate)
2. Mauvrich Kofi Gane (Independent Candidate)
3. Akwasi Addai Odike (United Progressive Party)
4. Kwasi Busumbru (People’s Action Party)
5. Nana Agyenim Boateng (United Front Party)
Distinguished citizens, these are your Presidential Candidates for the 2020 Presidential Elections.
As we have emphasized time and time again, the Commission remains committed to conducting free, fair, credible, transparent and peaceful election. We entreat you our dear citizens to disregard any allegations of rigging and assertions of a flawed electoral process and election by any individual or section.