The High Court in Accra has granted an order of Mandamus filed by the NPP’s Parliamentary Candidate for Tema Central, Mr. Charles Forson with an order to the Electoral Commission to collate results of the two outstanding polling stations in addition to the 146 already collated and declare the winner through the official Returning officer for Constituency.
The Court also ordered the Inspector General of Police to provide security at the designated collation center to ensure a safe environment for the EC officials to perform their duty.
The Court presided over by Justice Baah Forson Agyapong held that the respective applications by the NPP Candidates for all four constituencies that is Tema Central, Okaikwei Central, Techiman South and Ablekuma North met the grounds for the grant of mandamus granted same.
The court said the EC collated only 146 results for Tema Central, instead of the 148 polling station results. In the case of Okaikwei Central 110 out 141, results were collated. At Techiman South, 135 out of 282 results were collated.
While 219 out of 281 of polling station results, were collated in the Ablekuma North parliamentary elections. In the court’s opinion, the EC was unable to perform its mandatory duty as required by law because of the incomplete collation and declarations in the affected constituencies.
Justice Baah Forson Agyapong held that, per Article 51 of the Constitution 1992, the EC, is obliged to conduct elections, to its entirety and in a situation where the EC is unable to perform its constitutionally mandated duty fully, an order of mandamus, can be granted to get the EC to do its work.
Regarding a returning officer, the court said per Regulations 43 of CI 127, an official Returning Officer, is mandated to collate and declare the Parliamentary Election. In the case of Tema Central, the judge found that the EC had a duty to collate all results, and the failure to include two outstanding polling stations meant this duty had not been fulfilled.
He ruled that a declaration by anyone other than the returning officer was not legally valid. Justice Baah Agyapong further held that the refusal by the EC to collate and declare all the polling station results and declare a winner, in the four constituencies considering the urgency of the situation indicates that the Commission has not performed its mandate and a Mandamus is necessary to compel it to perform its Constitutional duty, before Monday January 6, when parliament is expected to swear in Members of Parliament for the 9th Parliament.
