The Electoral Commission (EC), through its Chairperson served notice to stay out from supervising the National Democratic Congress’ Presidential and Parliamentary primaries until all internal issues are resolved amicably.
“…in order that we are not cited for contempt, the Commission has taken the decision not to supervise the conduct of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections until after the determination of the case by the court. We thought we should bring this to your attention”, Mrs. Jean Mensa said as one reason the EC can’t suprivise the elections slated for Saturday 13th May 2023.
Dr. Kwabena Duffour has filed an interlocutory injunction against the party’s upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries.
Full statement below…
MEETING WITH THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS REMARKS BY CHAIRPERSON OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION, MRS JEAN MENSA
A good afternoon to all of you.
On behalf of the Electoral Commission, I welcome you to the offices of the Commission this afternoon. As we are all aware we haven’t had the participation of the NDC at our IPAC meeting since 2021. We hope that your honoring our invitation to this meeting, will pave the way for the NDC to return to IPAC and be part of the important discussions that take place there.
We have called this meeting this afternoon to inform you about our decision on a matter that lies before us. As we are all aware the NDC invited the Electoral Commission to supervise the conduct of its Presidential and Parliamentary Primaries slated for Saturday 13th May 2023.
Several meetings have been held between the Commission and the Elections Committee of the NDC to discuss the modalities. A set of guidelines have been agreed upon with the Elections Committee of the NDC.
Key among the guidelines is the requirement that the Register to govern the election would be made available to the contesting Parties by the Elections Committee of the NDC at least seven (7) days before the conduct of the elections.
Earlier this week, the Commission received a letter from the Kwabena Duffuor Campaign Team alleging various errors and anomalies with the Register. It was based on this, that the Commission felt it necessary to meet with the Elections Committee of the NDC as well as the representatives of the Presidential Aspirants to deliberate on this matter and agree on a way forward.
That meeting was to have been held today. However, yesterday we were served with an Application for Interlocutory Injunction seeking to restrain the Commission from supervising the conduct of the Presidential and Parliamentary Primaries due to the alleged anomalies with the register.
Gentlemen, in order that we are not cited for contempt, the Commission has taken the decision not to supervise the conduct of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections until after the determination of the case by the court. We thought we should bring this to your attention.
Therefore the meeting called to discuss the concerns of the Kwabena Duffuor Campaign Team has been cancelled.
Thank you.