Samuel Atta Akyea, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, has maintained that the Electoral Commission (EC) can revisit results in contested seats without a court order.
This claim follows the Supreme Court’s decision on December 27, which reversed a previous High Court finding that had approved the NPP’s (New Patriotic Party) motion to have the EC re-collect results in several disputed seats.
The Supreme Court’s ruling has rekindled discussion over the EC’s independence in resolving election-related disparities.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Atta Akyea who’s a private legal practitioner stressed that the Electoral Commission is legally required to re-collate results in constituencies where anomalies or fraud are suspected.
In order to guarantee accuracy and credibility, he further emphasized the EC’s independence in examining the results of parliamentary elections.
“I do not know the full motivation for anybody to go for a mandamus, because it lies within the power of the EC to look at the results again. It should come to the notice of the EC, in trying to discharge the constitutional duty that indeed and in fact, somebody has been a beneficiary of electoral violence or fraud.
“It is found out that instead of several polling stations being put together, some were left out, and the process has not culminated in the gazetting of whoever is alleged to have won.
“I submit with the greatest of respect that the EC being a constitutional body and decision maker, can remedy it without any court order. That is my humble view… What if the declaration was found on an error and it didn’t have the full complement of the pink sheets,” a report by citinewsroom.com quoted him to have said.
When asked if the EC should not have waited for a mandamus application before the re-collation, he replied “at all”.
“I’m of the humble view that even if you want to go to Parliament, it should go beyond controversy. It shouldn’t be the one profiting from the fraud of an election. What would be your moral justification for sitting in that chamber when you didn’t win? Some people are talking about duress, and errors in computation, nevertheless, I want to take a seat in Parliament.”
Source: Adinkraradio.com
