The Electoral Commission (EC) has cautioned the opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to desist from what it describes as unjustifiable attacks on the integrity of the Commission.
The party has in the last one week engaged in a spirited banter with the Commission alleging a plot with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to insert the name of an unqualified candidate into the Assin-North voter’s register.
The Director, Electoral Services at the EC, Dr Serebour Quiacoe, says the Commission remains focused and expects the cooperation of the NDC.
According to him, when a party is in opposition, the EC is mostly to be attacked by that party regarding any issue even when it has no grounds.
“Most often than not when a party is in opposition, the Electoral Commission becomes the whipping tool, any small issues, they will whip the Electoral Commission without any grounds.
“So if you look at the statement, it was stated that if they have any contrary view, they should provide and I don’t think there’s any contrary view, so we’re only putting across that they should stop attacking the commission when they have no grounds.
“Whether we like it or not we’re stakeholders in the game, the parties cannot have elections without the EC, and the EC cannot conduct elections without the parties’ sponsoring candidates,” he said.
He added that the opposition party can criticize constructively if the Commission is doing the wrong thing, but if genuinely there are no reasons to attack them, they should avoid it.
“We’re not saying that if we’re doing something bad they shouldn’t talk about it, but when there’s none, you don’t smear us like that,” Mr Quiacoe said.
Whereas the EC has explained per the regulations governing elections that a parliamentary candidate does not have to necessarily be a registered voter in a place they seek to lead, the NDC’s National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, insists otherwise.
As a result, the EC reminded him that in the just ended Kumawu bye-election, the NDC’s candidate was not a registered voter there but he contested. Nonetheless, Sammy Gyamfi believes that the EC is interpreting the law wrongly, and that they cannot be right simply because the NDC’s candidate breached the law at Kumawu.
The Electoral Commission has set Tuesday, June 27, 2023, as the date for a by-telection in the Assin North constituency following the Supreme Court’s ruling that ousted the former MP, James Gyakye Quayson.
The court held that his election was null and void because at the time he filed to contest, he owed allegiance to another country contrary to Ghanaian laws.