This follows a suit filed against the Electoral Commission over the elections. On Thursday, the EC was ordered by the Supreme Court to suspend all adverts being aired on various media platforms on the upcoming District Assembly elections.
The order comes on the back of a case which is currently before the court, praying it to declare the EC’s decision to go ahead with the elections as illegal. The court said it was not right for the commission to continue advertising the election when the hearing of the case is still ongoing.
The Supreme Court continued the hearing a case filed by a fisherman, Benjamin Eyi Mensah, who claims the commission unfairly denied him the right to contest.
He is seeking an annulment of the electoral process because he was denied the opportunity to file his nomination despite meeting all conditions.
The EC closed nomination before the maturation of a Constitutional Instrument (CI) 85 which is currently before Parliament. The house is yet to deliberate and pass that into law before the EC can go ahead with the election.
Lead Lawyer for the EC, James Quarshie Idan told the court the CI 85 which the plaintiff was basing his case on, was not meant to empower the EC to conduct election but rather to give backing to the demarcation of electoral areas.
Mr. Idan who represented the Electoral Commission in the 2012 Presidential petition at the Supreme Court further added that his client relied on section 11 of the PNDC law 284 which deals with the organization of public elections.
He further told the court that section 11 of that same law, gives his client the Electoral Commission, the powers to organize and conduct elections in the country hence there was no need to wait for a maturation of any other law.
If the court gives a ruling that totally changes the date of the March 3 election, this could throw the entire preparation out of gear and further delay the District Assembly Elections for which candidates have been campaigning vigorously.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey|3news.com|Ghana
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